Unexpected Culprit

Term began again all too soon. David and Remus returned to Hogwarts and the need to pretend to be simply friends. It was a comforting thought that Albus was now aware of the true nature of the situation. They expected he would be helpful in quashing any rumours.

With Severus's disappearance David was taking his potions classes while Remus was covering all the DADA ones. David was late in arriving to his seventh year class on the second Monday of term and as he approached he heard the class discussing his relationship with Remus. "They seem to be awfully close to each other for friends," Padma Patil was saying. "And Lupin's fiancé seemed so nice. I feel really sorry for how he's being deceived. Do you think it might put him off men?" she added hopefully. David paused outside the door and then decided to teach his students not to gossip about him by sneaking invisible into the class.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were sharing a bed," said Draco Malfoy as David crept unnoticed to his desk. "All the professors are at it, you know even that weedy muggle studies professor ends up in Trelawney's rooms more often than natural. Doesn't leave 'till morning either. But as for Lupin, I think his fiancé knows all about it."

David paused at the front of the class, about to turn himself visible again. How did Malfoy come across that piece of information? What did he think he knew about Remus and David? David remembered the missing map, he had not given it much thought since he could not ask Minerva why she had not given it to Ron without raising her suspicions about how he knew the contents of Harry Potter's will. When the events leading up to his trial had been proved to be a plot of Voldemort's he had not thought about the fate of the map, but now it was obvious that Peter Pettigrew had recognised it among his things and kept it. Voldemort would have been pleased to obtain it which might mitigate Pettigrew's punishment had his hints to Harry that it had not been Albus been discovered. If Pettigrew had had the map, it was entirely possible that Malfoy now had it; or a copy at least. David reappeared to the shock of his students. He would ask Malfoy to stay behind and question him about his knowledge of his teacher's private lives.

David gave his students a stern lecture about wasting time which they could have spent getting their equipment out and preparing for the lesson. He told them that they were of age and should not need to be supervised to use their time productively and threatened to make them spend their free periods with a teacher if they did not improve. He then moved on to the topic of their conversation and asked Malfoy to stay behind after the lesson, before finally starting the class and commenting that those who were taking DADA should have noticed him before he made it to the front desk.

"Mr Malfoy, you seem to be very well informed as to the private lives of your teachers," said David when the rest of the class had been dismissed. "May I ask how you came about this knowledge?"

"I was simply repeating the rumours which are circulating."

David looked at him sternly. "Try again," he said coldly.

"It's the truth sir," Malfoy protested politely.

"That's the second time you've lied to me in the same minute," David informed him. "Ten points from Slytherin for each falsehood. Now shall we try for third time lucky?" Malfoy said nothing. "Very well, turn out your pockets and your bag onto the desk," ordered David.

"You can't search a student, sir," protested Malfoy, but he still kept his tone polite.

David was encouraged by his unwillingness to obey. Malfoy was hiding something, he just hoped that if it was not the map he would recognise what it was. "I am your acting housemaster. If I believe you to have possession of stolen goods I can; I can even take you to Madam Pomfrey and demand an intimate search of your bodily orifices if I suspect illicit goods to be concealed there in. Do you want me to suspect that?"

Malfoy's pale face had gone paler and the suggestion of such an indignity. "No sir," he said, this time with barely concealed anger as he emptied his bag and pockets onto the desk. David glanced over the items on his desk and hovered his hand across them as if deciding which on to pick up; in fact he was sensing the magical fields they generated. He did not find the parchment he was looking for but noticed that after doing as he was told, Malfoy had placed his bag out of sight.

"Put the bag on the desk too," David ordered. Malfoy obeyed slowly. David ran his hands over the bag and along its seams. "Ah ha," he said triumphantly as he found the hidden pocket and drew out an old piece of parchment. "Care to explain why you are carrying such a tatty piece of parchment around in such a careful manner?" he asked.

"I will explain to the headmaster sir, but only to him," said Malfoy defiantly.

"Very well," said David. "I'll hang on to this, and I'll arrange a meeting with Professor Dumbledore. I believe the rightful owner of this parchment will be glad to get it back." Malfoy looked about to protest but thought better of it and with David's permission packed up his belongings and left for his next class.

"I don't care what Albus says I don't trust him," David told Remus two days later when he had returned after the moon. "Malfoy had the map; he'd been using the map. It would have been really helpful in all the attacks on Hermione. Albus said Malfoy stole it from his father to keep Hogwarts safe, but if he did so why didn't he give it to a teacher? Albus thinks Malfoy's reformed. Severus thinks Malfoy's reformed. Everyone bloody thinks so, but he's still the unprincipled Death Eater in waiting I remember. Nobody else sees it."

Remus let David rant. He had seen the change in the Malfoy heir since his previous time at Hogwarts and had been pleased that he had not decided to blindly follow in his father's footsteps. He did not have to stand up for his werewolf teacher but he had. David had too much history with the boy to see things dispassionately.

"At least Albus's now got the map," said Remus. "And Malfoy's been told that you're your own father and my fiancé's been staying over some evenings so he shouldn't make any more suggestive comments. The map's no longer a threat so let it go." He changed the subject. "How's the planning for the trip to Azkaban coming?"

"It's done," David admitted holding his head in his hands. "I'm procrastinating because I don't want to go back there. I'm afraid I'll not be able to leave. I'm a wimp I know; I've faced dragons I can face this, I've just got to get up the courage to do so."

Remus decided that sympathy was not what David needed. He needed to face this fear quickly or it would only increase. He suspected that David had been having nightmares about it while Remus had been away. "Yes you're a wimp," he said forcefully. "I face my worst nightmare every month. I have done for years and will do for the rest of my life. You've only got to do this once, so stop feeling sorry for yourself and get on with it." He saw David wilt under his criticism and put his arms around him. "Don't worry, I love you. Albus is going with you and the two of you are among the most powerful magic users in the country. Rufus won't know what hit him. You'll return 'cos there's no chance I'm giving up our bathroom to live with you in a prison cell. But you need to do this soon or it'll eat at you."

At breakfast on Friday David was slightly perturbed by the disturbance at the Gryffindor table in the region of Ron and Hermione following the arrival of the post owls. His eye tended to fall on the pair a bit more than was natural for someone who was not supposed to know them, but he hoped that nobody noticed. He couldn't really help himself, which was why he was probably the only member of staff to get some warning of the trouble ahead.

David noticed that Ron was preoccupied at lunch. He barely ate anything which was extremely out of character and he had heard Hermione trying to get him to go to the nurse because he had been out of it all day. Luckily David had the seventh years for DADA in the period directly after lunch. He had a chance to get to the bottom of this himself, since Hermione did not seem any different he had a horrible feeling he knew what the letter had been about. David hoped he was wrong.

"Mr Weasley," David's voice cut icily through the room when he had failed to contribute anything to their discussion on vampire hierarchies and was simply sitting gazing blankly in front of him. "You appear to be having trouble concentrating on this lesson. Is the subject boring you or do you have something on your mind?"

"I'm a bit preoccupied sir," mumbled Ron.

"What is causing you trouble?"

"I'd rather not say sir."

"Nonsense," said David briskly, "There's not much point in you being here if you can't follow the lesson. It's a waste of your time and a waste of ours since you have no constructive contribution to make. If you're having problems it is quite likely that another student in the class is also, so out with it."

"It's personal," said Ron. David was impressed although he did not show it. The Ron he knew would have said something more along the lines of "It's none of your bloody business."

"Very well," said David. "You will tell me after class. If you are prepared to concentrate you may stay, if not please leave and I will give you a detention for you to catch up in."

Ron made no move to leave. "Excellent choice, I expect you agree that detentions are a bit beneath seventh year students." David led the class back to the topic of vampires and was pleased to note that Ron made an effort to participate although it helped that Hermione kept prodding him when he started to drift.

"Alright Mr Weasley, what's up?" asked David perching casually on the front of his desk as Ron fidgeted nervously in front of him.

"Please sir, it's personal," protested the boy.

"Your personal problem became my business when it disrupted your learning in my class," explained David answering the unspoken protest. "The amount of points I will deduct for your behaviour hinges on how hard it is for me to draw the problem out of you. I will not deduct points for the nature of the problem so long as you are honest with me. I believe your problems started at breakfast, with the arrival of a letter?"

"The letter I got was from my brother Charlie about a new dragon they had at the reservation. It has nothing to do with my lapse in concentration."

Despite Ron's protests David could tell that he was getting near the heart of the matter. "May I glance over it?" he asked.

Ron dug the note out of his pocket and handed it over. "It's pretty boring sir, just Charlie talking about a welsh green with a bad attitude."

David glanced at the note, on the surface Ron was telling the truth, but his instinct said that there was more to it. David raised his anti-surveillance wards. "I have made it so that it appears I am giving you a lecture about your behaviour," he told Ron. "I think what you read in this letter is different to what I read in it. Am I correct in thinking that the real message is a threat of some kind?"

"Yes, but the sender says that he will know if I tell anyone."

"Even with my wards?"

"I daren't take that risk sir."

"I assure you that nobody can tell what we are saying in any way, even the headmaster can't get through my wards, and I can help you forget this conversation for a few hours."

"They're going to kill Hermione this evening," said Ron in a rush. "If I don't deliver her to them or tell anyone then they're going to kill my sister and my mother instead."

"Actually this is good news," David assured him. "All we need to do now is have someone disguise himself as Miss Granger, someone who is well able to defend himself, and we can catch the culprits. So far they haven't done anything for us to prove who they are. As I said, I can lock away your memory for a while so that they can't tell that you've said anything. It's not the same as an oblivate; you get your memory back later. With your permission I could do that and leave you with a sense that all will work out well so that you carry on regardless. However first you need to tell me exactly what you've been told to do."

As soon as Ron had left David sent a message to the headmaster, through the castle since nobody else could hear her. He said that Hermione was going to be targeted after class and he asked Albus to find a pretext to talk to him before the end of classes, so that it would seem that the contact had been initiated from Albus's direction. A serious looking Auror Hart turned up half way through David's next class with Tonks in tow. They asked David to accompany them to the Ministry to help with their investigation into some complaints they had received that he had harassed and assaulted some of the Gringotts goblins the previous day. David went with them, loudly protesting that he had been teaching a class at the specified time and that there were over a dozen students who could vouch for him. As they escorted him away he called out to his class to go to the library and work on their research projects.

Once they were in the privacy of Albus's office the headmaster, David and the two aurors discussed David's information on the new attempt against Hermione. David was going to propose that he substitute for Hermione, but Tonks beat him to it with a look that told him not to interfere. He supposed she did not want him to reveal that he was a metamorphmagus. Polyjuice was out of the question because they did not know how long it would take for the culprits to say or do something which would demonstrate that they had been behind the previous attacks as well.

As he walked into supper that evening David casually approached the Gryffindor table and said, "Ah, Miss Granger, Mr Weasley, it seems someone thought it would be fun to let a few Cornish pixies into my office. I understand that the two of you have some experience with recapturing the creatures, would you lend me a hand after you've eaten?" Ron looked a bit worried, but Hermione was not one to refuse to aide a teacher and immediately agreed for the both of them.

When they reached the DADA office Tonks and Hart, rather than pixies, were waiting for them. David gave Ron access to his memory back and they explained what was going on to Hermione. Then Tonks put the finishing touches to her impersonation, she had already approximated Hermione's build and was dressed in a spare uniform of hers which she had had a house elf retrieve. Hermione and Tonks performed a linking spell which would enable them to communicate telepathically for about twenty minutes, depending on distance, so that Tonks could appear to have Hermione's knowledge if challenged. Ron asked to have his memory hidden again, and once they left the office David did so. Ron led 'Hermione' to her fate with the optimistic assumption that all would be well and the belief that he had just been fighting with pixies, although this time without the 'peskipiksi pesternomi' spell. David followed under an invisibility charm.

Ron and 'Hermione' left the castle and made their way to the Whomping Willow. Ron pressed the knot with a long stick to still the branches and they entered the tunnel it guarded. David made it inside just as the tree began to unfreeze. They were nearly at the shrieking shack when Ron said something about having dropped his prefect badge somewhere in the tunnel and sent 'Hermione' on ahead while he returned to look for it. David followed Tonks into the shack, which was empty. Tonks sat on the bed to wait. David stood in a corner. Neither spoke in case they were being observed.

After a few minutes the sound of footsteps was heard and Malfoy entered followed by Crabbe and Goyle who each had tight hold of one of Ron's arms and were half dragging him along.

"What's going on?" demanded Tonks as she leapt to her feet, wand drawn.

"Give me your wand mudblood!" spat Malfoy cursing Ron so that he started to suffocate. "You're boyfriend gets no air until you do." Ron had managed to tear his arms away from Crabbe and Goyle. He had fallen to his knees and was clawing at his throat trying to remove the phantom hands which were strangling him.

Tonks glared at him and glanced towards Ron before throwing her wand towards him. Malfoy released the spell and Ron gasped for breath. "What do you want Malfoy?" demanded Tonks.

"You couldn't bloody well die the first time could you," snarled Malfoy. "You've made me get personally involved so now your precious boyfriend's going to get it too. If you'd not been so stubborn he would have lived." His tone became mocking. "Now I think we're going to have a crime of passion. Everyone knows how up tight you are, and Ronnikins here being the pureblooded male that he his wanted so much more from your relationship. He pushed you, he raped you; you fought back and killed him. Overcome with remorse you killed yourself. You're the expert on logic – that sound plausible to you, Granger?"

"Nobody would believe that of Ron!" snorted Tonks. "They'll smell a rat a mile off."

"Oh but they will," said Malfoy sweetly, "when the aurors go through your possessions after your deaths they will find the journal dear sweet Ronnikins kept in which he detailed all his sexual frustrations and exactly what he intended to do about them. I wouldn't be surprised if Weasley senior looses his job from the scandal. Having his plump mother die of shame would be a bonus," he mused.

Ron was still kneeling on the floor, but he had now got his breath back. "You sick, twisted, perverted…"

"Now, now Ronnikins," said Malfoy as if he was a naughty toddler, "I'm the one in charge. The depths of the scandal will depend on the positions you are found in. Your own deaths are unavoidable, but if you cooperate I might be persuaded to lessen the impact on your relations. After all you did agree to lure your mudblood girlfriend here in order to save them. Be a pity not to do so."

Ron looked desperately at 'Hermione.' "It's okay Ron," she said. "We're not dead yet, we'll get out of this we always do. You can apologise properly later."

"Touching sentiment," mocked Malfoy. "She must really love you Weasel, but as I recall it was always Potter who saved your arses. He's not here to help you now."

"Why are you doing this," asked Tonks. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Do you realise how my father reacted when he found out year after year that I had been beaten in the exams by a mudblood? Do you understand the shame you caused my family? None of the teachers would believe that you cheated. They said I was jealous, ha, the heir of the Malfoy family jealous of a mudblood! But had that been all I would have allowed you to live…"

"How kind!" snorted Tonks.

Malfoy continued as if there had been no interruption. "… but then my mother heard a prophesy about how you would destroy the Dark Lord once and for all. And if he was destroyed by a mudblood our society would crumble. The Ministry would give in to your every demand. I know all about spew, we'd end up as slaves to our house elves and blood purity would no longer count for anything. I bet you'd put an end to the restrictions on werewolves too, since you're so fond of our hairy shouted professor." Malfoy warmed to his subject and continued to rant for some time while his goons looked on menacingly and occasionally cracked their knuckles threateningly.

David stood in the corner quietly taking in all that was going on. Tonks had insisted that he waited for her signal to intervene, unless someone was in immediate danger, so he could not interfere. He smiled slightly as Malfoy defended his plans. His instincts had been right; Malfoy had not reformed. It appeared it had all been a ruse to place a spy within Dumbledore's ranks when he graduated. Voldemort was obviously planning a long term campaign. He watched as Malfoy produced a phial of potion from his pocket and pulled out one of Ron's hairs to add to it. He drank it down.

"I'm going to enjoy this," commented Malfoy as he started to transform into Ron and grabbed hold of Tonks. "I wonder if you'll scream as much as your friend did when I took his virginity. Of course the Dark Lord had me drug Potter first to make him more amenable, but with you I'll get the full experience."

David froze in shock as the implications of Malfoy's statement sank in. He had never considered that it could have been him who had impersonated Albus. Rage quickly over took him and waiting for Tonks's signal no longer seemed important. He sent wandless stunners at Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy swung around still holding Tonks as he heard his goons thud to the floor. David pulled Malfoy away from her and then removed his invisibility spell so that Malfoy could see him.

"Do you have any notion of the suffering you've caused," he growled. "See what it feels like to believe that you're mentor raped you." He changed his grip so that his hands were clamped on the top of Malfoy's head and pushed into him the feelings of pain, betrayal and worthlessness that he had experienced. All the emotions from several years were concentrated into a few seconds and Malfoy's eyes immediately rolled up in his head and he slumped to the ground as soon as Tonks pulled David's hands off him.

"David, I'm so sorry," said Tonks as she wrapped her arms around his shaking form. The emotions caught up with him and he began to cry into her shoulder. Tonks looked over him towards Ron, who had retrieved the wands from the Slytherins and was watching them warily wondering why his girlfriend was hugging his teacher. "Wotcher Ron, can I have my wand?" Tonks asked morphing her face into a classically Tonks appearance. He handed it to her. She kept David pressed against her with one arm while she conjured ropes to bind their attackers with the other. "Go back to the castle. You'll find Hermione and Auror Hart in the DADA office, possibly with the headmaster. Ask them to come down; if you can find Professor Lupin too bring him here as well."

Once Ron had departed Tonks cautiously asked David, "What exactly did you do to the git?"