A/N - JKR owns the idea, all of these characters etc.
A/N - Keep posting ideas and suggestions, it can only help.
A/N - Sako, I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't take the time to respond to your ever so thorough critique. I hate to admit it but to be true to the story you almost have to go with Snape is good. I'm glad you like the sphinx theme - I said that the sphinx has to speak in rhyme or riddle so when Harry is advanced enough to develop a riddle (which wouldn't surprise me) he won't have to rhyme like the sphinx in the fourth book. I think you're right about Christmas being too fun with all the trials but I'm thinking that all these wizards have a work hard/play hard mentality plus they owe it Sirius to celebrate. Oh, Fred and George are still working, never fear. Thanks so much for your thoughts.
A/N - I probably don't do this often enough but also thanks to my faithful reviewers including but not limited to (in chronological order of appearance): Kateen, Anonymous, Moonlight, Potterwriter, Lauren, Beldin, Shdurrani, Alarmrang, Lady Game, Candledot, Heather, Kathleen, Norway, Pamela Potter, Cynical Slytherin, and Aidan Lilith Potter!!!!!!!
Chapter 35
Draco Delivers
There was a loud gasp from many members of the wizards and witches in the Great Hall. Draco Malfoy just admitted to casting an Unforgivable Curse against both of his parents. That just did not make sense though. Why would he volunteer to submit to the truth serum? Since his father had accused him of casting the curse earlier he had to know that this question would come up. He also had to know that he was condemning himself to a life in prison if anyone found out about this. Why would he submit himself to these proceedings voluntarily?
Dumbledore's next few questions indicated that he was thinking along these same lines. "I must ask you again, did you hold your mother and father under the Imperius Curse last summer?"
"Yes"
"Do you know the penalty for what you have just admitted to doing?"
"Yes"
"What is the penalty?"
"A life sentence in Azkaban or whatever the current wizard's prison is."
"Did you know that I would ask you this question before you volunteered to submit to the truth serum?"
"Yes"
Harry remembered Dumbledore's harsh and stony expression last year when he questioned Barty Crouch when he was under the influence of the truth serum. It was impossible not to notice to difference between that session and this one. Harry wondered why Dumbledore was being so much softer on Malfoy. The questions continued.
"Why did you hold your parents under the Imperius Curse?"
"I wanted to control them." Most people in the room thought that this was a bit obvious.
"And were you able to control them?"
"Yes"
"What did you make them do while they were under your control?"
"I made them stop practicing dark arts. I made them resist the Dark Lord."
The room was so quiet that you could hear people breathing. Whatever most people in the room were expecting to hear from the younger Malfoy, this obviously was not it. Almost everyone was gaping with his or her mouth wide open. Dumbledore decided to ask less pointed questions so that he could hear Draco's version more fluidly.
"Draco, why don't you tell us what happened last summer."
"Because I don't want to." Dumbledore briefly smiled to himself before rephrasing the question.
"Draco, tell us what happened last summer."
"My father was right. Harry Potter and his friends hexed me on the train last summer knocking us unconscious. Right after my father got me and took me home I swore to kill Potter, Weasley and the mudblood. I didn't really intend to hurt them though, I was just angry. My father took my anger as a sign that I was ready to join the Death Eaters. He told the Dark Lord about my absolute hatred for Potter --- "
"Do you hate Harry Potter so much because of the incidents on the train last year?"
"No"
"Then why?"
Harry was extremely curious to hear what was at the root of Malfoy's hatred of him. Harry always figured that he just hated him because he, Harry, hated Voldemort. If Malfoy really didn't want to be a Death Eater then he had absolutely no idea why he hated him so much.
"Because everyone has always felt sorry for him because he doesn't have any parents. He doesn't realize how lucky he is. I can't count the number of times I wished that I didn't have any parents."
"Why is that?"
"Because growing up with no influence at all would be better than being raised under a dark influence." Whatever Harry had been expecting to hear, this was certainly not it. Ron and Hermione looked as surprised as he felt.
"Continue telling us about this summer."
"My father told the Dark Lord about my hatred for Potter. The Dark Lord decided that he could use that hatred to get me and other Hogwarts students to join him this year. This past summer we were to begin training with our parents."
"And did you begin that training?"
"Not at first. I don't support the Dark Lord and didn't want to join him but my father threatened to kill me if I didn't become a Death Eater. At first I didn't believe him but then he starting putting me under the Cruciartus Curse. He would leave me under it for up to thirty minutes at a time. Finally I couldn't take it any more."
Harry was sure that Mrs Weasley was going to start crying. For his part, he had never been under the Cruciartus Curse for more than five minutes at a time and couldn't even fathom staying under it for that long. After a brief pause Dumbledore prodded him to continue. "So you put your parents under the Imperius Curse?"
"Yes"
"So that they would quit threatening you?"
"Partly"
"Why else?"
"I was trying to stop my father from supporting the Dark Lord."
"Did it work?"
"No. He's more powerful than I am. It would work for short periods of time but I could never control him for more than a day at a time."
"What were you going to do after the summer break was over and it was time to return to Hogwarts?"
"I was going to drop out of school."
Harry wasn't the only person utterly shocked by how much Draco Malfoy loved his horrible excuse for a father. Now Mrs Weasley was definitely shedding a tear or two. Even Professor McGonagall looked touched by what she was hearing. Dumbledore recovered quickly and continued firing questions at the younger Malfoy.
"What about your mother?"
"My mother was caught in the middle. Some times she would help me and other times she would help my father. I couldn't trust her enough not to interfere."
"Is she a Death Eater?"
"No"
The Great Hall let out a collective sigh of release at this least answer. The headmaster and acting Ministry of Magic continued his questioning.
"Tell us about the winter holidays."
"It was horrible. I had planned to spend the holidays at Hogwarts so I wouldn't have to deal with my father. Then that muggle-loving Dumbledore sent us all home. All except Potter and his two friends I should say. We weren't even give time to make other arrangements. It was the same thing all over again as the summer except this time I never even stood a chance."
Dumbledore's eyes betrayed his attempt at hiding his sorrow. There was no way he could have known about Draco's situation though. Harry thought about how much fun he had first in the summer with Sirius and then during Christmas with the giants and then thought about how Malfoy spent those periods literally fighting against his own father. Everyone seemed to be reflecting on their own internal thoughts.
"Tell us about the raid on Azkaban."
"The Dark Lord was angry with my father because I hadn't killed anyone yet. My father insisted that I participate in the raid to free all the prisoners. When I refused he threatened to kill my mother. After everything I had seen him do, I had no reason to believe that he wouldn't go through with it."
"And what happened when you got to the prison?"
"We were hidden under an Invisibility Cloak. When my father realized that the dementor guards were imposters he knew that the ministry must have set a trap for us. We tried to escape. Potter and one of the giants somehow knew we were coming. They attacked us. They missed us though."
Harry jumped up to challenge this last sentence. His spell hit Lucius Malfoy and that's how he was caught. Dumbledore waved him down though and Malfoy continued.
"The giant was throwing boulders at us. My father decided to fight back. We were going to throw spells and then immediately move so that they couldn't attack back. I convinced my father to let me cast the spells because I was afraid he would kill them. My first spell missed. Potter cast a spell at us but it missed by several feet. I cast the same spell against my father and Potter thought he had hit my father."
Harry and Tiny didn't know what to make of this last revelation. Harry, who had enough experience with the truth serum to know that he was telling the truth, merely stared at Malfoy. Harry wasn't embarrassed about his spell missing as much as he was shocked that his Slytherin counterpart was actually the reason why one of the most powerful and influential Death Eaters was in custody. Dumbledore paused for a few seconds so that the importance of Malfoy's last few sentences could sink in.
"And what did you do after you hexed your father?"
"I left my father behind and escaped under the cloak. I waited at home for the Dark Lord to come after me but he never came. He must have been too busy since the prison attack failed but I still thought he was going to come and kill me. No one came except Dumbledore."
Dumbledore looked up and addressed the other people sitting in the room. "I believe we know what happened after that. Does anyone else have any other pertinent questions for this witness?"
Harry, for one, had a lot of questions for Malfoy but he was pretty sure that Dumbledore wouldn't consider any of them pertinent.
Mr Weasley apparently had some questions of his own because he stood up.
"Draco, how did you learn to cast the Imperius Curse?"
"I've seen my father cast it loads of times. I spent the first half of the summer teaching myself how to do it. That's why I didn't cast it on my parents until the second half of the summer, I didn't know how yet."
Mr Weasley seemed to ponder his answer for a few seconds. "Can you perform the other two Unforgivable Curses?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean that you don't know?"
"I've never tried to cast the other two."
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"No"
"Are other students of Hogwarts Death Eaters?"
"I don't know."
"Guess." Mr Weasley was not the only one in the room that absolutely wanted an answer to that question.
"I don't know."
"At any time this year, did you ever hear your father talk about Death Eaters at Hogwarts?"
"Yes"
"Who are they?"
"I don't know."
"What did he say about them?"
"He talked about someone on the Hogwarts staff being a Death Eater but he never referred to him by name." At this last revelation most everyone in the room cast a sidelong glance at Snape.
Mr Weasley sat down and the headmaster once again invited others to ask questions.
Hermione tentatively stood up.
"Er --- Draco --- did your father tell you about any other of Voldemort's plans?"
"Yes"
As usual, she had asked what was at least one of the most practical question yet. Even though Voldemort would probably change his plans since Lucius Malfoy was taken into custody, it couldn't hurt to know what he was thinking before. Hermione looked to the headmaster for guidance. He nodded indicating for her to continue.
"What did he tell you?"
"He told me several things some of which I didn't understand. He told me that Voldemort was going to rid the world of the Order --- "
"The Order?" Hermione questioned. "What is that?"
"I don't know."
Harry wasn't the only one in the room that was hoping she would move on to a different line of questioning. He supposed that it would look too suspicious if he interrupted her just to try to change the subject. Hermione however did see this topic as a dead end since Malfoy didn't seem to know what the Order was. She did, of course, make a mental note to look the Order up in the school library later.
She continued, "What else did your father tell you?"
"He told me that the Dark Lord was going to start focusing on recruiting teenagers. Apparently the Dark Lord considered Barty Crouch as one of his best supporters and he wants more supporters like him."
"Were you supposed to recruit teenagers to become Death Eaters?"
"Yes"
"Hogwarts' students?"
"Yes"
"Did you?"
"No"
"Why not?"
"I don't want to serve the Dark Lord. If he's going to kill me then he's going to kill me but I will not be responsible for putting other Hogwarts' students into this situation. I wouldn't even wish that on Potter."
Hermione stood there looking thoughtful for a few seconds before posing another question to the occupant of the chair in the middle of the tables.
"Do you have the ability to tell if someone else is a Death Eater?"
"No"
Hermione took her seat indicating she was done. Dumbledore once again gestured to the crowd. This time Ron stood up. He wasn't nearly as tentative as Hermione had been.
"Why are you such a big prat?"
"I --- "
"That will do!" Dumbledore said cutting off both Malfoy's answer and some of the sniggering going on in the room. "Mr Malfoy, you are through here. After a quick break we are going to resume with questioning your father. You may remain for that if you wish."
After the break Lucius Malfoy was brought in. Dumbledore stood up.
"Mr Malfoy we have heard from your son and we will, one more time, hear from you."
"I have said everything I have to say. I'm scared of my son who repeatedly put me under the Imperius Curse and threatened to kill my wife."
"Enough. All I was waiting for was one more lie that you were kind enough to provide so quickly. Since your testimony conflicts with your son's, and since Draco submitted to taking the truth serum, so shall you."
"I will not."
"Yes you will. Severus if you please."
Snape got up and went to administer the potion to Lucius. It was quickly apparent that Lucius had no intention of submitting to the potion. Dumbledore cast a spell causing Lucius to stop resisting drinking the potion. After Snape administered the potion Dumbledore lifted his spell from Lucius.
The next thirty minutes didn't reveal anything new. Lucius testified much the same as Draco had. He had very few new tidbits of information for the now tired and weary crowd.
After Lucius was taken back to his cell Dumbledore addressed the group once again. "I know everyone's tired. At the least I know that I'm tired so we'll call it a day and meet again tomorrow at lunchtime. I do hope that everyone will stay for dinner before they leave but of course I understand if you have pressing things to do."
Sirius ran to catch Dumbledore before he left. Things must have worked out because he grabbed Lupin and dragged him over to Harry and his friends.
"Dumbledore says he doesn't need us tonight. He's going to spend the rest of the evening working on paperwork for the ministry. So what do you all want to do? Visit Hogsmeade again? Play quidditch? You guys name it."
"Well we usually spend the time after Christmas studying --- "
"HERMIONE!" Ron and Harry shouted at the same time.
Krum had a good idea. "The giants are our guests. They should get to choose."
Both Ron and Harry thought she was a little too quick to agree. "Oooh Viktor, that's a great idea. Tiny, what would you guys like to do?"
Tiny looked at Sully and the two lady giants, they all shrugged at each other. "Should we ask about Hagrid?" Tiny finally asked his group of giants.
They all nodded their agreement. "Harry," Tiny began "we were hoping to be able to spend some time alone with Hagrid on this trip. Perhaps tonight would be a good night for that. We're not ready to spend much time in public yet anyway."
Harry shrugged and went over to talk to Hagrid. They both returned a minute later. Hagrid spoke first, "I'd love to spend the evening with you lot. We can have dinner here and then go have summa drink in my cabin."
Shortly after it was decided that Hagrid and the giants would stay at Hogwarts while Viktor, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Lupin and Sirius would spend the evening in Diagon Alley. "Sirius," Harry said to his godfather, "are you sure you want to go there?"
"I know it's a little far but I haven't been there, as myself that is, in a long long time." Sirius had already learned that all he had to do was refer to his unjust incarceration and he would get his way for a very long time to come.
Hermione was whispering something to Ron away from the crowd. "No Way!" Ron's voice carried through the entire Great Hall. Everyone turned to look at them. Although they were speaking in whispers, they were obviously arguing about something. Harry went over to see what was going on.
"What's the matter with you two?"
"You won't believe what Hermione wants to do!" Ron practically shouted.
"Yes he will. We definitely should --- " Hermione retorted.
"Should Not!"
"Should!"
"Should Not!"
Harry finally interjected "Should or should not what? What are you two arguing about?"
"Hermione wants to invite Malfoy to come with us."
Harry stared at Hermione. "Are you insane?"
"Harry, Ron --- just think about will you? First of all he turned his father in so we know he can't be all that bad. Secondly if we don't at least try to be civil to him, what's to stop him from joining the dark side? He just made a huge move for our side and I think the least we can do is invite him to go to Diagon Alley with us." Hermione said that last sentence as if it settled the matter.
Ron turned to Harry with a pleading look. Hermione and Ron were both watching Harry. There was an unspoken agreement that he would decide the matter. Finally Harry seemed to make his decision. Little did they know this one decision would be the one issue that would affect so many things yet to come.
A/N -Share your thoughts with me - It's a tough call which way to go with Draco Malfoy, whether he's truly evil or perhaps just a victim of circumstances. Tell me what y'all think should happen!
.
A/N - Keep posting ideas and suggestions, it can only help.
A/N - Sako, I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't take the time to respond to your ever so thorough critique. I hate to admit it but to be true to the story you almost have to go with Snape is good. I'm glad you like the sphinx theme - I said that the sphinx has to speak in rhyme or riddle so when Harry is advanced enough to develop a riddle (which wouldn't surprise me) he won't have to rhyme like the sphinx in the fourth book. I think you're right about Christmas being too fun with all the trials but I'm thinking that all these wizards have a work hard/play hard mentality plus they owe it Sirius to celebrate. Oh, Fred and George are still working, never fear. Thanks so much for your thoughts.
A/N - I probably don't do this often enough but also thanks to my faithful reviewers including but not limited to (in chronological order of appearance): Kateen, Anonymous, Moonlight, Potterwriter, Lauren, Beldin, Shdurrani, Alarmrang, Lady Game, Candledot, Heather, Kathleen, Norway, Pamela Potter, Cynical Slytherin, and Aidan Lilith Potter!!!!!!!
Chapter 35
Draco Delivers
There was a loud gasp from many members of the wizards and witches in the Great Hall. Draco Malfoy just admitted to casting an Unforgivable Curse against both of his parents. That just did not make sense though. Why would he volunteer to submit to the truth serum? Since his father had accused him of casting the curse earlier he had to know that this question would come up. He also had to know that he was condemning himself to a life in prison if anyone found out about this. Why would he submit himself to these proceedings voluntarily?
Dumbledore's next few questions indicated that he was thinking along these same lines. "I must ask you again, did you hold your mother and father under the Imperius Curse last summer?"
"Yes"
"Do you know the penalty for what you have just admitted to doing?"
"Yes"
"What is the penalty?"
"A life sentence in Azkaban or whatever the current wizard's prison is."
"Did you know that I would ask you this question before you volunteered to submit to the truth serum?"
"Yes"
Harry remembered Dumbledore's harsh and stony expression last year when he questioned Barty Crouch when he was under the influence of the truth serum. It was impossible not to notice to difference between that session and this one. Harry wondered why Dumbledore was being so much softer on Malfoy. The questions continued.
"Why did you hold your parents under the Imperius Curse?"
"I wanted to control them." Most people in the room thought that this was a bit obvious.
"And were you able to control them?"
"Yes"
"What did you make them do while they were under your control?"
"I made them stop practicing dark arts. I made them resist the Dark Lord."
The room was so quiet that you could hear people breathing. Whatever most people in the room were expecting to hear from the younger Malfoy, this obviously was not it. Almost everyone was gaping with his or her mouth wide open. Dumbledore decided to ask less pointed questions so that he could hear Draco's version more fluidly.
"Draco, why don't you tell us what happened last summer."
"Because I don't want to." Dumbledore briefly smiled to himself before rephrasing the question.
"Draco, tell us what happened last summer."
"My father was right. Harry Potter and his friends hexed me on the train last summer knocking us unconscious. Right after my father got me and took me home I swore to kill Potter, Weasley and the mudblood. I didn't really intend to hurt them though, I was just angry. My father took my anger as a sign that I was ready to join the Death Eaters. He told the Dark Lord about my absolute hatred for Potter --- "
"Do you hate Harry Potter so much because of the incidents on the train last year?"
"No"
"Then why?"
Harry was extremely curious to hear what was at the root of Malfoy's hatred of him. Harry always figured that he just hated him because he, Harry, hated Voldemort. If Malfoy really didn't want to be a Death Eater then he had absolutely no idea why he hated him so much.
"Because everyone has always felt sorry for him because he doesn't have any parents. He doesn't realize how lucky he is. I can't count the number of times I wished that I didn't have any parents."
"Why is that?"
"Because growing up with no influence at all would be better than being raised under a dark influence." Whatever Harry had been expecting to hear, this was certainly not it. Ron and Hermione looked as surprised as he felt.
"Continue telling us about this summer."
"My father told the Dark Lord about my hatred for Potter. The Dark Lord decided that he could use that hatred to get me and other Hogwarts students to join him this year. This past summer we were to begin training with our parents."
"And did you begin that training?"
"Not at first. I don't support the Dark Lord and didn't want to join him but my father threatened to kill me if I didn't become a Death Eater. At first I didn't believe him but then he starting putting me under the Cruciartus Curse. He would leave me under it for up to thirty minutes at a time. Finally I couldn't take it any more."
Harry was sure that Mrs Weasley was going to start crying. For his part, he had never been under the Cruciartus Curse for more than five minutes at a time and couldn't even fathom staying under it for that long. After a brief pause Dumbledore prodded him to continue. "So you put your parents under the Imperius Curse?"
"Yes"
"So that they would quit threatening you?"
"Partly"
"Why else?"
"I was trying to stop my father from supporting the Dark Lord."
"Did it work?"
"No. He's more powerful than I am. It would work for short periods of time but I could never control him for more than a day at a time."
"What were you going to do after the summer break was over and it was time to return to Hogwarts?"
"I was going to drop out of school."
Harry wasn't the only person utterly shocked by how much Draco Malfoy loved his horrible excuse for a father. Now Mrs Weasley was definitely shedding a tear or two. Even Professor McGonagall looked touched by what she was hearing. Dumbledore recovered quickly and continued firing questions at the younger Malfoy.
"What about your mother?"
"My mother was caught in the middle. Some times she would help me and other times she would help my father. I couldn't trust her enough not to interfere."
"Is she a Death Eater?"
"No"
The Great Hall let out a collective sigh of release at this least answer. The headmaster and acting Ministry of Magic continued his questioning.
"Tell us about the winter holidays."
"It was horrible. I had planned to spend the holidays at Hogwarts so I wouldn't have to deal with my father. Then that muggle-loving Dumbledore sent us all home. All except Potter and his two friends I should say. We weren't even give time to make other arrangements. It was the same thing all over again as the summer except this time I never even stood a chance."
Dumbledore's eyes betrayed his attempt at hiding his sorrow. There was no way he could have known about Draco's situation though. Harry thought about how much fun he had first in the summer with Sirius and then during Christmas with the giants and then thought about how Malfoy spent those periods literally fighting against his own father. Everyone seemed to be reflecting on their own internal thoughts.
"Tell us about the raid on Azkaban."
"The Dark Lord was angry with my father because I hadn't killed anyone yet. My father insisted that I participate in the raid to free all the prisoners. When I refused he threatened to kill my mother. After everything I had seen him do, I had no reason to believe that he wouldn't go through with it."
"And what happened when you got to the prison?"
"We were hidden under an Invisibility Cloak. When my father realized that the dementor guards were imposters he knew that the ministry must have set a trap for us. We tried to escape. Potter and one of the giants somehow knew we were coming. They attacked us. They missed us though."
Harry jumped up to challenge this last sentence. His spell hit Lucius Malfoy and that's how he was caught. Dumbledore waved him down though and Malfoy continued.
"The giant was throwing boulders at us. My father decided to fight back. We were going to throw spells and then immediately move so that they couldn't attack back. I convinced my father to let me cast the spells because I was afraid he would kill them. My first spell missed. Potter cast a spell at us but it missed by several feet. I cast the same spell against my father and Potter thought he had hit my father."
Harry and Tiny didn't know what to make of this last revelation. Harry, who had enough experience with the truth serum to know that he was telling the truth, merely stared at Malfoy. Harry wasn't embarrassed about his spell missing as much as he was shocked that his Slytherin counterpart was actually the reason why one of the most powerful and influential Death Eaters was in custody. Dumbledore paused for a few seconds so that the importance of Malfoy's last few sentences could sink in.
"And what did you do after you hexed your father?"
"I left my father behind and escaped under the cloak. I waited at home for the Dark Lord to come after me but he never came. He must have been too busy since the prison attack failed but I still thought he was going to come and kill me. No one came except Dumbledore."
Dumbledore looked up and addressed the other people sitting in the room. "I believe we know what happened after that. Does anyone else have any other pertinent questions for this witness?"
Harry, for one, had a lot of questions for Malfoy but he was pretty sure that Dumbledore wouldn't consider any of them pertinent.
Mr Weasley apparently had some questions of his own because he stood up.
"Draco, how did you learn to cast the Imperius Curse?"
"I've seen my father cast it loads of times. I spent the first half of the summer teaching myself how to do it. That's why I didn't cast it on my parents until the second half of the summer, I didn't know how yet."
Mr Weasley seemed to ponder his answer for a few seconds. "Can you perform the other two Unforgivable Curses?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean that you don't know?"
"I've never tried to cast the other two."
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"No"
"Are other students of Hogwarts Death Eaters?"
"I don't know."
"Guess." Mr Weasley was not the only one in the room that absolutely wanted an answer to that question.
"I don't know."
"At any time this year, did you ever hear your father talk about Death Eaters at Hogwarts?"
"Yes"
"Who are they?"
"I don't know."
"What did he say about them?"
"He talked about someone on the Hogwarts staff being a Death Eater but he never referred to him by name." At this last revelation most everyone in the room cast a sidelong glance at Snape.
Mr Weasley sat down and the headmaster once again invited others to ask questions.
Hermione tentatively stood up.
"Er --- Draco --- did your father tell you about any other of Voldemort's plans?"
"Yes"
As usual, she had asked what was at least one of the most practical question yet. Even though Voldemort would probably change his plans since Lucius Malfoy was taken into custody, it couldn't hurt to know what he was thinking before. Hermione looked to the headmaster for guidance. He nodded indicating for her to continue.
"What did he tell you?"
"He told me several things some of which I didn't understand. He told me that Voldemort was going to rid the world of the Order --- "
"The Order?" Hermione questioned. "What is that?"
"I don't know."
Harry wasn't the only one in the room that was hoping she would move on to a different line of questioning. He supposed that it would look too suspicious if he interrupted her just to try to change the subject. Hermione however did see this topic as a dead end since Malfoy didn't seem to know what the Order was. She did, of course, make a mental note to look the Order up in the school library later.
She continued, "What else did your father tell you?"
"He told me that the Dark Lord was going to start focusing on recruiting teenagers. Apparently the Dark Lord considered Barty Crouch as one of his best supporters and he wants more supporters like him."
"Were you supposed to recruit teenagers to become Death Eaters?"
"Yes"
"Hogwarts' students?"
"Yes"
"Did you?"
"No"
"Why not?"
"I don't want to serve the Dark Lord. If he's going to kill me then he's going to kill me but I will not be responsible for putting other Hogwarts' students into this situation. I wouldn't even wish that on Potter."
Hermione stood there looking thoughtful for a few seconds before posing another question to the occupant of the chair in the middle of the tables.
"Do you have the ability to tell if someone else is a Death Eater?"
"No"
Hermione took her seat indicating she was done. Dumbledore once again gestured to the crowd. This time Ron stood up. He wasn't nearly as tentative as Hermione had been.
"Why are you such a big prat?"
"I --- "
"That will do!" Dumbledore said cutting off both Malfoy's answer and some of the sniggering going on in the room. "Mr Malfoy, you are through here. After a quick break we are going to resume with questioning your father. You may remain for that if you wish."
After the break Lucius Malfoy was brought in. Dumbledore stood up.
"Mr Malfoy we have heard from your son and we will, one more time, hear from you."
"I have said everything I have to say. I'm scared of my son who repeatedly put me under the Imperius Curse and threatened to kill my wife."
"Enough. All I was waiting for was one more lie that you were kind enough to provide so quickly. Since your testimony conflicts with your son's, and since Draco submitted to taking the truth serum, so shall you."
"I will not."
"Yes you will. Severus if you please."
Snape got up and went to administer the potion to Lucius. It was quickly apparent that Lucius had no intention of submitting to the potion. Dumbledore cast a spell causing Lucius to stop resisting drinking the potion. After Snape administered the potion Dumbledore lifted his spell from Lucius.
The next thirty minutes didn't reveal anything new. Lucius testified much the same as Draco had. He had very few new tidbits of information for the now tired and weary crowd.
After Lucius was taken back to his cell Dumbledore addressed the group once again. "I know everyone's tired. At the least I know that I'm tired so we'll call it a day and meet again tomorrow at lunchtime. I do hope that everyone will stay for dinner before they leave but of course I understand if you have pressing things to do."
Sirius ran to catch Dumbledore before he left. Things must have worked out because he grabbed Lupin and dragged him over to Harry and his friends.
"Dumbledore says he doesn't need us tonight. He's going to spend the rest of the evening working on paperwork for the ministry. So what do you all want to do? Visit Hogsmeade again? Play quidditch? You guys name it."
"Well we usually spend the time after Christmas studying --- "
"HERMIONE!" Ron and Harry shouted at the same time.
Krum had a good idea. "The giants are our guests. They should get to choose."
Both Ron and Harry thought she was a little too quick to agree. "Oooh Viktor, that's a great idea. Tiny, what would you guys like to do?"
Tiny looked at Sully and the two lady giants, they all shrugged at each other. "Should we ask about Hagrid?" Tiny finally asked his group of giants.
They all nodded their agreement. "Harry," Tiny began "we were hoping to be able to spend some time alone with Hagrid on this trip. Perhaps tonight would be a good night for that. We're not ready to spend much time in public yet anyway."
Harry shrugged and went over to talk to Hagrid. They both returned a minute later. Hagrid spoke first, "I'd love to spend the evening with you lot. We can have dinner here and then go have summa drink in my cabin."
Shortly after it was decided that Hagrid and the giants would stay at Hogwarts while Viktor, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Lupin and Sirius would spend the evening in Diagon Alley. "Sirius," Harry said to his godfather, "are you sure you want to go there?"
"I know it's a little far but I haven't been there, as myself that is, in a long long time." Sirius had already learned that all he had to do was refer to his unjust incarceration and he would get his way for a very long time to come.
Hermione was whispering something to Ron away from the crowd. "No Way!" Ron's voice carried through the entire Great Hall. Everyone turned to look at them. Although they were speaking in whispers, they were obviously arguing about something. Harry went over to see what was going on.
"What's the matter with you two?"
"You won't believe what Hermione wants to do!" Ron practically shouted.
"Yes he will. We definitely should --- " Hermione retorted.
"Should Not!"
"Should!"
"Should Not!"
Harry finally interjected "Should or should not what? What are you two arguing about?"
"Hermione wants to invite Malfoy to come with us."
Harry stared at Hermione. "Are you insane?"
"Harry, Ron --- just think about will you? First of all he turned his father in so we know he can't be all that bad. Secondly if we don't at least try to be civil to him, what's to stop him from joining the dark side? He just made a huge move for our side and I think the least we can do is invite him to go to Diagon Alley with us." Hermione said that last sentence as if it settled the matter.
Ron turned to Harry with a pleading look. Hermione and Ron were both watching Harry. There was an unspoken agreement that he would decide the matter. Finally Harry seemed to make his decision. Little did they know this one decision would be the one issue that would affect so many things yet to come.
A/N -Share your thoughts with me - It's a tough call which way to go with Draco Malfoy, whether he's truly evil or perhaps just a victim of circumstances. Tell me what y'all think should happen!
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