Disclaimer: Look! Look! *points gleefully* It's the official document saying that I own them all! Look, it's right there! That pig with wings has it in his mouth!

Warnings: Still nothing much really. :)

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Smoke & Mirrors.

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Part Five. Why If Not?

Draco slammed the door hard enough to shake the room. "Fucking bastards!"

Cujo looked up from her place on the bed and gave a small wuff, as if agreeing. The recently slammed door reopened and a slightly paler Morgan walked in.

"Next time, just warn me you're going to slam the door, will you? I nearly lost my face. All I saw was a huge board of wood rushing towards me." Morgan gave a weak smile. "I think I need to sit down."

"Sorry." It was only a mutter but Draco was too busy pacing to give a better apology. "But who the fuck do they think they are? They can't give me the 'That information is protected' bullshit forever. I will find out whatever is going on."

Before Morgan could reply, a deafening wailing noise rocked the entire house. Both men clapped their hands over their ears, wincing and patiently waited it out. It finally stopped and Draco shook his head, trying to get his ears to normalise.

Morgan rubbed his forehead and groaned. "Well that just cleared my headache right up, now didn't it? I really hate that alarm."

"It wouldn't be so bad if the vampires didn't insist on trying to attack me at home about once a week."

"Maybe you could convince them to cut it back to once a month?"

"I'll talk to my contacts about it."

Morgan looked slightly uncomfortable by the fact that Draco seemed quite serious. "And why do you think the greedy vampires would actually take what you said into account?"

"Because they're terrified of me. The ones that know who I am, at any rate." Draco shoved Cujo over to the other side and lay down. "Most of the ones that have met me wouldn't dare come after me, no matter how much they were offered. Those that met me and are still walking around, anyway."

Morgan pulled up the chair and sat down, propping his feet up on the mattress. "And how did you get to be such a fearsome superhero?"

"You already know how. Dumbledore transferred me to hunt vampires when Voldemort sent me to research."

"That was just after …" Morgan shut his mouth and averted his eyes when Draco looked to him.

"What were you going to say?"

"It doesn't matter."

"You were going to say his name?" Draco sat up, looking at his friend in concern. "I wasn't aware you remembered that?"

"Bits and pieces." Morgan's fingers fiddled with the blanket.

"Since when?" Draco knew he'd probably said that a little too harshly but didn't correct himself.

"I started therapy just after I finished school. I kept feeling as if something was missing. It took forever before I could remember anything."

"Well, they say it's a hard journey."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

Draco frowned. "I don't like you keeping secrets from me, Morgan. I mean," He paused, trying to think of how to say it. "I mean, I know I keep secrets, but that's different."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Draco relented and let go of his anger. "Well, I'm sorry too. I lied to you once, not that I knew I was doing it."

Morgan finally looked back up. "What?"

Draco gave a small smile. "Do you remember when I brought out that card? You know, when I was … missing a few years."

"Yeah."

"Well, I said to you that if I hadn't mentioned it before I must not have made the connection. That wasn't true." Draco shifted uncomfortably. "I knew that card was from you the second I walked into your house for the first time. That was when I realised how you seemed so familiar, that night."

"My living room was a bit of a give away, huh?"

"Oh come on, it's depressing and you know it." Draco scrunched his nose up. "All those angel statues that you've enchanted to cry. Creepy. Especially that one that looks like me."

"So how did you think today went?"

"Could have been worse."

"And How do you think you're doing?"

Draco shrugged a little. "I've been worse. Just pissed of at Harry and Hermione."

"They're just following orders."

Draco snorted, moving to lie back down. "That's bullshit and you know it. We've all bent the rules before, gone against our orders. Especially for each other."

"Things are different now."

"Why? Because I'm not fucking him anymore? That's pathetic. They're not keeping me out of the loop because of that. There's something else." He scowled and crossed his arms. "At least there better be."

"Maybe he's just uncomfortable."

"And what right does he have? He kicked me out, remember?"

"I'm just saying … I don't think he's dealing with it as well as he thought he would."

"Serve the little prick right."

"Thias isn't helping. All that touching and stuff. Anyone would think he was trying to hit on him."

"He is."

Morgan raised an eyebrow. "Um, well … not to sound like an expert or anything but I always got the impression that he was … well, straight."

"He is."

"Right. So he's hitting on Harry because?"

"To piss me off." Draco smiled. "It works of course, not that I let him see that."

"And Harry just lets him?"

"Guess he wants to see if I'll get jealous."

"Which you do."

"Which I hide."

"Which makes them both angry."

"Which makes me feel better."

"And that would be your vindictive side playing up again."

"Got it in one." Draco finally dragged himself back to his feet and walked over to his desk. He sat down and rummaged around for awhile before he pulled out a fresh note book, flicking it open to the front. "So what do we know? Victim drained. Not vampires."

"How can you be so sure? It might have been one, wanting to hurt you. Also to get you away from the house more."

"Because I talked to my most reliable contact there and he said it wasn't."

"And he's not after the reward himself?"

"No. He wouldn't do that to me. I trust him."

"With your life?"

Draco nodded, not bothering to turn around and actually look at Morgan. "With my life."

"No offense, but he almost killed you once, if it's the same one we're talking about."

"That was different. And he wasn't after the reward then, either. That was personal." Draco went back to writing the notes down. "The number 9 cut into his forehead."

"How did he look?"

Draco paused in his note taking again, trying to think of how to describe what he had seen. "Like some one had tried to inflate a balloon but not done a proper job of it. His skin was too loose, they had to stitch his eye lids closed." His voice came softer. "It wasn't pleasant. The 9 was slightly warped, so I'm thinking it was cut in after he was drained."

 "Why?"

"Because if it was cut in before he was drained, it would have changed with the draining and then changed again when they tried to … refill him. That would have been well after rigor mortis set in. It would have been shaped differently."

"I guess I'll just have to trust you on that."

"Whatever was used to kill him possibly restricted his ability to speak."

"Oh come on, how could you know that?"

"His wand was tested, he made the Dark Mark. My father knows a thousand spells that he could have used to defend himself but that was the only one he did. If you concentrate very hard the Dark Mark is quite simple to conjure without any words. It would have been even easier he had was panicking. The adrenaline would have boosted it."

"His attacker could have been the one to make it. Might have wanted it to look like Lucius did it. Maybe it was a comment to his years as a Death Eater, Though, I guess not, he was a spy after all."

"Maybe not." Draco looked over and gave a tight smile. "Some people don't see a distinction between a DE and a spy."

"Well, they're idiots."

"Perhaps, perhaps not."

"What else have we got?"

"Not much really. We don't know what, who, how or even why he was killed."

"Sounds like a fun assignment. Especially when you take in to account that the assignment's not ours."

"Not yet."

"You honestly think The Boss will let you have this case?"

"I just have to prove to him that I'd be a better candidate."

"You do realise that means out smarting Hermione, don't you?"

"It's been done before."

"By you?"

"Once or twice."

"Are we back on to 'Things and Times We Don't Talk About' again?"

"Maybe a little."

"I really hate it when you answer questions like that."

"I know. That's why I do it."

Morgan threw a pillow at him, making them both laugh when it deflected back without Draco looking around. "Damn your paranoia."

"Well excuse me for not liking projectiles that bombard me from behind." But Draco unclipped the pendant that had prevented the feathery attack and placed it in the top drawer. He had taken to wearing it pinned inside his clothes just after everything had been cleared up with Ron. He'd always prided himself on having excellent senses but that one time, when he'd almost been hit with that arrow had made him lose a little faith in his abilities. "Morgan?"

"Mmmmm?"

"Do you ever think about what your funeral would be like?"

"No. Why would anyone do that?"

"Never mind. Just wondering."

"I worry about you … a lot."

"That's very sweet, but I'm fine."

"You mother isn't."

"I know, she's a wreck."

"Well, she did love him and now … it's not wonderful."

"Yeah." Draco titled his head to the side, thinking about how pale and miserable his mother had looked today. "It never occurred to me, you know."

"What hadn't?"

"That she loved him. I'd always just thought … well, it doesn't matter now."

"You thought your parents only got married cause they were both purebloods?"

"Yeah, but I guess not. I mean, if that was the reason my father could have easily married her sister. But I don't think that was ever mentioned."

"No offense or anything, but your mum's sister was a real bitch. I don't think even Lucius took bloodlines that seriously. I can't believe she found someone to marry her."

"Each to their own, or whatever that saying is. She was rich and beautiful, for some people, that's enough."

"Well she's not beautiful now."

"She had her soul sucked out, of course she isn't."

"I never used to think that anyone would deserve that punishment, but from I heard, she did."

"There's always an exception to every rule. I used to think no one deserved to be executed. Still do, now. But sometimes we have to make allowances."

"I think Cujo's hungry."

"I'll feed her shortly. I'm trying to think if anything else needs to be written down."

"Saria's coming by later, said she found a few things for us to look over. Something about really sticking it to A. Why does she call him that?"

Hissing voice, filled with rage and hate. "You pathetic little whore. I should have seen what you were up to."

"No, I didn't do anything. I swear it to you on my life!"

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Draco held his head high, knowing he had been found out and that there was nothing more he could do. "So what is it if I fool you three times?" A snarl, and then all Draco could feel was cold. 'So cold' he thought to himself.

"Draco!"

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked you about why Saria calls Thias, A. I said it like four times."

"Sorry, guess I'm a little tired. Um, you should ask her. Or maybe him. He seems to hate it so much, maybe he figured it out."

"I know that you know."

"Well, yes, but I told her I wouldn't say anything."

"Fine. Look, I have to go home, get changed, all that stuff."

"Okay." Draco remembered something just as he heard Morgan get to the door. "Oh, Morgan?"

"Yeah?"

"I want you to move in here. Just for awhile, if you like. I'm sick of this empty house, its silence drives me crazy." He looked around to try to gauge Morgan's reaction. He couldn't bring himself to say that living on his own was starting to creep him out, though he couldn't think why.

Morgan looked back at him for a few moments before nodding. "I'll go pack."

"Thanks." Draco turned back to his desk and once he was sure Morgan was gone, he retrieved the pendant from where he had placed it in the drawer and looked at it. "What are you doing to me?" He turned it around a few times, his fingers searching for anything out of place, more out of habit then anything else. He placed it on the desk top, looking at it intently. "What are you doing to me?"

To Be Continued.         Don't forget to vote in the poll for who you think the killer is at:

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