Title: On my Way to Save the World
Author name: NaginiSKD3
Category: Action/Adventure, Romance
This Story Includes: Dark Magic, Harry/Draco, Spy!Draco, Hermione/Ron
Rating: R for sexual situations, violence, and language
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP
Summary: Post-OotP HPDM Draco becomes a spy for the light and can't stand his old friends though he's unable to show it. A bit of RWHG is making Harry feel isolated. Harry and Draco start spending time together. Being a man of few morals Draco attempts to corrupt Harry. Slash ensues.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling and various publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warning: This is Slash! You have been warned at least three times now if you are still reading it is your own damn fault.
Chapter Three: Curiosity kills the eardrums
Harry exited Gringotts flanked by Remus and Tonks with Mad-Eye leading the way and they walked down the busy London streets in silence until they reached Grimmauld Place.
Harry was the first to break the silence with a question that had been weighing on his mind since the journey had begun. "When are Ron and Hermione coming?"
Remus answered him. "Since you'll be staying here before anyone expected the Weaslys have agreed to come early, they'll arrive by Wednesday. There's going the be an Order meeting later tonight, Dumbledore asks that you attend."
"Really?"
"He thinks you're ready."
Mad-eye had opened the door and already entered the house. Harry found the place to be extremely quiet without the Weaslys running around but it was also a good deal cleaner.
"Kreacher finally doing his job?" Harry couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice, He wasn't sure what he though of Kreacher anymore but decided that it would probably be best if he ignored the traitorous house elf.
"No Harry, Dumbledore paid Dobby extra to give the place a thorough cleaning. I don't think he and Kreacher got along well. I'll levitate your things up to your room for you. Is that all you're taking?" Remus looked at Harry's one-trunk and empty birdcage before twirling his wand and directing them upstairs.
"That's really all I need, all that's left on Privet Dr. are some ugly old cloths of Dudley's."
"We'll take you to Diagon Ally, when your ready, and you can get some cloths of your own."
"I'd like that."
Harry followed his trunk up the stairs and showed Remus to the room he had used last year. After Remus left he began examining the few things in his possession. Five years worth of old school books, a brush that couldn't tame his hair, School cloaks and uniforms, Quidditch uniform cloak pads and gloves, magical socks from Dobby, ink quills and parchment, a sneaker scope, a pile of old letters, a snitch alarm clock, Bits of string and wire (Complements of the Dursleys) His parents photo album, a toothbrush, worn out Omnoculars and four leaf clover, Clippings from the Prophet, Weasly sweaters, the mini dragon, a money bag and Gringotts vault keys, Sirius's knife, a collection of quidditch books, wand and broom servicing kits, His DA Galleon, the Marauders Map, a shrunken potions cauldron, a set of balances, a pointy black hat which he never wore, Owl treats, his fathers invisibility Cloak , and underneath it all the broken mirror that he left inside the trunk. Theses were the only things he had collected thought out his life that belonged to him. Not hand-me-downs from the Dursleys and no muggle cloths except the pair of oversized jeans, equally oversized T-shirt, and black sneakers he had on his back. Harry though about throwing away the bits of string and wire that had served as the Dursleys Christmas presents but decided against it for some reason.
Something was missing; Harry's Firebolt was not in the chest because in the days after Sirius' death the life long ban from quidditch that Umbridge placed on him hadn't seemed so important. Harry wondered whom he hated more, Umbridge, Voldermort, Wormtail, or the Dursleys.
Harry stacked the books on a bookshelf, put the parchment ink and quills on his desk, hung up the cloths on old hangers in the closet, and put some of his other items on the dresser trying to make the room look like it was his. He felt like a guest staying at a hotel.
Unable to do anything else Harry laid down on his bed and slept.
Spending the day with Sev was turning out to be a nightmare. First the apothecary incident – and he hadn't even done that on purpose, then the bank conversations with Potter, then the very long meeting at the bank, followed by a longer lecture from Sev, and now he was going to have to go see Potter again.
Well, not actually Potter in particular but Potter would be there and that was bad enough. What was going to happen now? Would Potter start trying to convert him to the light, think he was lying, or ignore him completely?
"Now" Sev interrupted Draco's thoughts "when we get there you are not to make any noise. I know you couldn't follow my instructions at the bank but it is imperative that you listen to me for once today, Draco, don't cause any trouble."
"I don't think I should make any promises today's turning out to be a bad day for me."
"Draco if you cause one more accident today I'll skin you alive and use you for potions ingredients."
"Don't make idle threats Sev."
"I wasn't. Now follow me inside and don't touch anything."
Draco shrugged behind Sev's back and watched as the man disappeared. Draco looked around the streets and saw nothing but muggle buildings full of muggle cloths and strange looking apparatuses.
"SEV!" Draco yelled just as a fat lady with too many shopping backs hobbled by. The lady gave him a perturbed glance then continued on.
"Draco what is the matter with you?" Sev appeared out to have walked from the space between the two shops but Draco was reluctant to admit that had really happened and soon forgot it had happened.
"Uh... I don't think – did something happen?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. The Fidelus Charm protects this building. Memorize this." Sev searched around his layers of black cloth and finally pulled out a small piece of parchment addressed to Draco.
"Thanks, a lot."
"If I didn't have to worry about your careless antics every time I turn my back maybe I would be able to remember the more important things."
Draco ignored Sev by studying the piece of parchment. "I'm done."
"Then follow me and try not to get lost this time you incompetent irritation."
"I'm so glad somebody care's about me." Draco laced his words with a simpering smile and big doe eyes. Sev snorted with his abnormally large nose.
On entering Number twelve the first thing Draco noticed was the row of dead house elf heads. "Weird." Draco commented to himself and was glared into silence by Sev.
"Now stay put, don't touch anything, and try not to make much noise." Once Draco had nodded his head Sev left the entrance hall and Draco was alone in the dimly lit room surrounded by mounted house elf heads and a strange pair of moth eaten red velvet floor length curtains that sounded like they were snoring. Draco walked closer to the curtains on silent feet absolutely dieing to know what was behind them.
What he really wanted to do was pull them back to see what was snoring but no, Sev told him not to touch anything and he didn't need to annoy his godfather anymore today causing more problems was definitely a bad idea. His mother was a former Black and he knew they shared the same pureblood beliefs as the Malfoys or his father would have never been betrothed to Narcissa. It was very likely that the Blacks had many Dark Arts artifacts that could be dangerous when touched but really, who would be stupid enough to place an artifact of the Dark Arts right in their entrance hall? They obviously couldn't be dangerous so maybe they were just decorative. Number twelve was probably riddled with little enchanted objects, such as these non-dangerous mysterious snoring curtains, just like the Manor.
Of course the Manor was much larger and had better lighting than Grimmauld. In the Manor there were tons upon tons of things just like the snoring curtains, they probably had a pair in some old forgotten hall of the west wing and his pair would be better kept than these nasty old things too. Almost everything in the Manor had some magical property. The tea cups bit your pinky if you didn't hold it out, the sofa tied to pull you into the cushions if you slouched, the clocks yelled "you're late!" if you didn't get to the dinning hall by seven, chairs in the dinning hall pulled themselves out for you but would always try to trip you up if they could. Come to think of it there was a lot of vicious furniture in the Manor. Any time you tripped over the foot stole or stubbed your toe on the couch it was probably because the thing had moved those extra few inches just to get in your way. The last foot stole in Draco's room had tried that and found itself so severely chastised that it was afraid to return from the observatory and wouldn't let the house elves move it back to his room.
The furniture hadn't tripped Draco since Lucius died. The entire Manor and all of the objects within it reacted to their master's mood. All the doors, even the locked ones, would open for the master, the chair at the head of the table would slide out for no one but the master, the clocks would yell at anyone who came to dinner only after the master himself had taken his seat because the master was never late, no teacup dared to bit the masters finger and if the couch ever attempted to eat him it knew it would be burned in the great fireplace.
Draco decided that if the green room couch ever showed carnivorous tendencies towards him again he would happily hold a formal execution for it by making all the house elves round up every last couch in the Manor, place them on the lawn in auditorium style seating, and force them to witness as he chopped the bamboo couch to bits with an ax and then used them in a bonfire. In fact he might just do that tomorrow because Draco absolutely hated the green room couch.
Most of the magical objects in the manor had more useful purposes than vindictive seating. Take, for example, the library. The library at the Manor was a humongous two story room almost as big as the grand dinning hall, contained over seven thousand books and almost two hundred hidden rare illegal books on the Dark Arts which could only be accessed by entering a magical room that was not even physically connected to the Mansion and only by the master when he entered the fireplace after the fire had been put out, all the curtains had drawn, the doors locked, and all lanterns and candles extinguished in specific order.
But the normal books in the library were all enchanted by a very complex but extremely useful charm. All a person searching for a specific book title or subject had to do was say the title or state the subject aloud after sitting down at the round table with the circle of light in the center and the book or books they had requested would appear in the middle of the circle. The individual books would also flip to the appropriate page when you asked them a question. There was no incantation required and all of it was said in English since you should be very careful about speaking Latin around the books.
Draco wondered what purpose the snoring curtains could possibly serve. Even though some of the furniture in the Manor was enchanted you could still sit on it most of the time, all of the magical objects served some purpose but what could snoring curtains placed in the middle of a hall be for?
Draco prodded the curtains gently and nothing happened, he placed his ear against them and only heard nasal snoring, he though about what Sev had told him took a step back. Beside the dark burgundy curtains was an elaborate grimy rope with dulled gold accents and ratty tassels. Whatever the curtains did they probably did it when you pulled that rope, Draco reasoned, so as long as he didn't pull the rope nothing could happen, right? Sev wouldn't get mad and if he just had a little peak under the curtains his curiosity would be cured keeping him from committing more serious crimes and everybody won.
Draco slipped his hand between the folds and found where the two curtains met, he slowly drew one back revealing a sliver of darkness, pulling back further so that the light form the chandelier could reveal what was waiting in the darkness Draco was surprised to see a drooling old woman with a taut stretched face and an ugly black hat slightly askew upon her head. Behind the moth eaten curtains was the full-length portrait of an ancient old witch who was presently leaning against her frame and drooling down the her coaler of her terribly old fashioned starchy black robes. Draco wondered if that was because of the time the portrait had been painted or if it was because the woman was just a fickle old prune. The cloths must have been out of fashion because obviously this was his great aunt Agnes whom his mother said had died a years before he was born. Besides the dated wardrobe and the drool she looked rich.
Why would anyone cover up a portrait with ugly velvet curtains? The woman was definitely a repulsive old hag but why leave her where people could see? If you didn't like to look at the picture get a house elf to move it to some dark corner of the house where no one whet like his father had done with the portrait of cousin Jeffrey.
Great aunt Agnes snorted in her sleep and licked her thin parched lips.
Before letting the curtain swing shut and cover the portrait Draco smirked at the sleeping woman considered waking her up for a chat but decided that he really didn't want to talk. "No beauty contests for you eh, auntie?" Draco muttered "Well, good night and may you never repulse the occupants of this hall or scare small children again."
One yellowed eye snapped opened and suddenly Aunt Agnes was staring right at Draco. "I see you," she spoke to him in a soft rattling whisper "I see you, you horrid, nasty, disrespectful, HEATHEN!" the ratty old curtains flew out of Draco's grasp and flapped around him. "YOU FILTHY, MANNERLESS, IMPETUOUS CHILD! HOW DARE YOU OPEN YOUR FOUL MOUTH IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS? WRETCH! LOUSE! SKUNK! ILL-BREED SON OF HARLOTS!"
"NOW YOU WAIT JUST A MINUTE YOU FUCK UGLY OLD HAG! YOU ARE SPEAKING TO THE HEAD OF MALFOY HOUSE! YOU BADLY PAINTED OLD CRONE! HOW DAREYOU SPEAK TOO ME THAT WAY?!
"LIES, VILE LIES FROM THE CHILD OF BILE! POLLUTED MOUTH OF SEWER WASTE! DECIETFUL CHILD OF PARASITES AND RATS! LIES, LIES!" The old woman was mad, screaming loudly and waking up more portraits thought the house until the clamor was deafening and her yellow eyes began to roll as foam came from her mouth and she clawed at the air.
"LOOK AT THIS!!!" Draco punched to portrait and thrust his signet ring into Agnes' face "DO YOU SEE THIS YOU RAGING LUNATIC? I AM DRACO MALFOY, SON OF LUCIUS MALFOY, AND HEIR OF DIABOLUS MALFOY!! YOU INSULT YOUR OWN BLOOD YOU CRAZED BITCH!"
"DRACO!" Sev shouted above the screeching portraits.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOY!?" Draco spared a look at where the other voices were coming from and saw that behind Sev stood several people including Mad-eye Moody, one of his distant cousins and Harry Potter all of them looking very angry with him.
"THE BLOOD THE BLACKS WOULD NEVER PRODUCE AN ILL BEGOTEN TRAMP SCALAWAG! FIEND! ROUGE! SON OF DEVILS FLESH!!!" Agnes began a wordless screaming like the sound of someone under Cruciatus and drowned out the angry shouts of the others.
Out of the corner of his eye Mad-eye worked on stunning the frenzied portraits. "SHUT UP YOU BLOODY DEMENTED LOON!" Draco's roar was the only coherent sound able to drowned out the howl of psychotic rage. Sev and the cousin he though was Nymphadora grabbed a flailing curtain each and tried to force them shut.
"LOATHSOM DEGENERATE!! HOW DARE YOU DEBASE MY HOUSE! WORM! VERMIN! FILTY MOUTHED OBSCENEY!!!"
"SHUT! - UP!" Draco bellowed as Sev and Nymphadora finally got hold of the curtains and began to close them over the raging portrait.
"BASTARD CHILD OF WHOOORES!!!" Agnes shrieked in record braking volume as she bid farewell to her great nephew.
"MAD OLD UGLY BITCH!!!"
As soon as the curtains closed the house was completely silent except for the quiet rustle of velvet.
"Are you done yet, Draco?" Sev's deep menacing voice sounded like the seething whisper of a dragon when he addressed his godson. Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his mop of black hair, and even the grown Nymphadora looked chastised.
"I'm... sorry?" Draco ventured hesitantly.
Sev took a deep rattling breath and Draco was prepared to curl up and cringe but before he could Sev's nostrils flared in violent fury and his black eye twitched once, then in a sharp swirl of black robes that disturbed the silence with their whip cracking rustle turned and strode away from the scene before he murdered his godson, presumably seeking out small animals to kill instead.
Mad-eye curled his lip and gave a sharp grunt that sounded almost like a dog's then followed Sev at a hobble sans whipping robes.
Draco was alone in the hall with who he thought was his distant cousin and of all people Potter.
"Good one, Malfoy." Potter looked amused.
Draco snarled.
To Be Continued... (Sooner than a week)
Quick little authors notes
Sorry the chapter was shorter than others It got really long so I broke it up into two parts and gave them each their own name. Expect another update pretty soon.
Uh... just a little note on chapter 2 when Harry mentions Ignatius Trout that was a little allusion to Maya's fic Underwater Light which is like a total masterpiece among HD fics.
Diabolus Malfoy's name came from the Latin translation of Devil since it keeps with JKR's theme of naming all the Malfoy's like that (i.e. Lucius=Lucifer and Draco=Dragon or Serpent which is a symbol of the devil.) I tried calling him Satan but that just translates into Satan and then I tried Morning Star but that was just Lucifer so...
As far as Agnes' name goes I just made that up but now that I think about it was that the name of that evil principle from Matilda? Maybe not. Well, it sounded like it fits. Don't be offended if your name's Agnes I'm sure you're a lovely person.
And thanks so much to the wonderful people who reviewed and the great and wonderful Grrr who graciously offered to be my Beta! Love you all!