A/N: Chapter sixteen: The Ministry reacts to what the other Death Eaters in the Program have done.

This is Harry/Draco, post-Hogwarts, though the slash content is extremely light. There are very vague suggestions of other relationships as well.

I've got this all written out, and am posting one a week. There will be 23 chapters total. All that's left is the editing.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Dedication: To Foodie, who still betas me despite my predilection for slash, and for FionaFawkes, who read and reviewed every single chapter, and gave me such excellent feedback. Also, for everyone who's read and loved my Harry/Draco. This one's for you.

-----16

On the way home, neither Shacklebolt nor Draco spoke at all. Draco himself was too lost in the realization of what his friends had done. He just couldn't believe they had been so stupid. Didn't they know they were going to get caught?

When they pulled up in front of Harry's house, Shacklebolt put a hand on Draco's arm before he got out of the car. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention this to them yet. I want to do some digging and talk to those in charge before we decide what to do about Mister McMillan. I'll come back and let you know what's been decided, all right?"

Draco swallowed. In other words, the Ministry could decide to discontinue the project, and this might well be his very last night with Harry. He'd never get another chance to really understand what was going on between him and Harry. He nodded slowly. "I won't say anything."

"Good. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Draco slipped from the car, and slowly made his way up the walk. He heard the car pull away as he reached the front door and opened it. Now he just had to use all his skill as a Malfoy to pretend that nothing unusual had happened during his visit with that moron. That should be easy, shouldn't it?

Lucius and Lupin were sitting on the couch talking when Draco entered, and Lupin turned, smiling when he saw Draco standing in the doorway. "Did you have a nice visit, Draco?"

Draco shrugged. "It was all right. I don't know why I bothered, honestly. The boy is such a dreadful bore. Where's Harry?"

Lupin pointed to the kitchen. "Working on something for the Minister."

"Thanks," he said, and headed for the kitchen. Harry was at the table with a stack of parchment in front of him, his hair even more mussed than usual. "That bad?" Draco asked.

Harry's head shot up. "Draco. I didn't hear you come in."

Draco managed a slight smile. "I'm sneaky that way. Need any help?" he asked, approaching the table.

Harry shook his head. "No. I've got it under control. Why don't you go play on the computer?"

"I'd rather play Jet Moto with you."

Harry's eyes seemed to close off. "I have too much to do right now, Draco. Maybe another time?"

Draco closed his eyes and sighed. Another time was rather unlikely to come, but he couldn't say that to Harry. "All right. Sorry I bothered you," then made his way to the den. Some things never changed, he thought to himself. Lucius hadn't been much better about spending time with Draco when he'd been young, either. Of course, his reasons had probably been slightly different, Draco admitted to himself. Still, knowing that his time with Harry might be limited just made things that much harder to deal with.

He started up the computer, pulling up Civilizations without even thinking about it. Right now conquering the world felt like a good idea. He might even get to finish the game before the Ministry came to cart him away again. He had to forcibly remind himself that he wasn't going to think about that, and turned back to the game. He jumped when he felt a hand settle on his arm.

Lucius was standing next to him, looking a bit tentative. "May I join you?" Draco didn't think he could recall his father ever looking quite so unsure of himself before. But he also remembered how his own body had betrayed him in the first few months, making it harder to control his emotions. And the fact that Lucius might suffer from what Draco's friends had done made Draco feel quite guilty. He hadn't even bothered to greet him when he came in.

He nodded. "Sure. Pull up a chair." He was a little surprised that Lucius wanted to join him. The only times Lucius had actually played had been when Harry or Lupin had insisted. "I was just about to choose a nation. Should I make the Wizards again?"

Lucius shook his head. "No need. How about the Celts?"

"We could do that," Draco smiled. He clicked on the button for the Celtic tribe. "Could be fun."

"Only makes sense, after all," Lucius said smugly. "All the best Wizarding blood in England came from the Celtic lines."

Draco smiled. "So you've told me."

The two got lost in playing the game, and when Draco looked up to see Lupin standing in the doorway, smiling at them softly as Lucius leaned forward to direct some of their troops, he was surprised how late it had gotten. "Hello," he said. "I totally lost track of things. What time is it?"

"Nearly supper. Don't worry about it. Harry and I have it in hand. The two of you were just being so quiet, I though I should check to make sure you hadn't murdered each other."

Draco glanced at his father, and remembered how difficult things had been when he and Lupin had first arrived. He was glad they seemed to be getting along so well that afternoon. But now, being reminded of the very thing he'd been trying to forget all afternoon, he was saddened. Would they even be able to continue getting to know each other this way?

Lucius just responded to Remus's comment with a snort. "Like we'd start with each other, Remus. You'd be the first to go. At least Potter—"

"Harry, Lucius. Unless you'd like dinner in your room again," Lupin warned.

"Harry, then, knows when not to push." Lucius turned to look at the man in the doorway. "How long do we have?"

"Should be ready in just a few minutes."

"That ought to be long enough to destroy England," Lucius smirked.

Draco's heart contracted, even as he smiled. He'd miss this when it was gone. "We'll be in shortly," he said quietly.

"No rush," Lupin said, then turned and left.

Draco sighed, and let Lucius take over the game. This was Lucius's favourite part, after all—the final strike on a neighbouring country. Once England had been entirely annihilated, Draco saved the game and shut down the computer. "Come on. Dinner should be done by now," he said, standing up and stretching.

They received a surprise when they got to the kitchen, though. Severus Snape and Kinglsey Shacklebolt were standing there, talking with Harry and Lupin.

"Harry?" Draco asked cautiously.

Harry turned to him and grinned. "Do you know how amazing you are, Draco?"

Draco felt his cheeks heat. "Why?" He glanced at Shacklebolt, who nodded, then looked back at Harry with his face as calm as he could make it.. "I just did what I could to make sure they wouldn't screw things up for everyone else."

"Draco, you saved a life. Possibly three. And you saved the program. You have no idea how proud I am of you right now, do you?"

Draco swallowed and shook his head. "Proud?"

Harry moved to his side and pulled him into a hug. "Immensely," he said quietly into Draco's ear. Draco felt a shiver of something go down his back. He leaned into the hug for a moment, then backed up. "What are you doing here, Severus?"

Severus smirked. "The Ministry has seen fit to reward you."

Draco couldn't resist. He returned the smirk, and raised his eyebrow. "And you're my reward?'

Severus's eyes narrowed. "No." He held out a vial. "This is."

"What is it?" Draco asked, wary.

"It will speed up the aging process for you. Two weeks instead of a month between transitions."

"You can do that?" Draco asked, excited, taking the vial from Severus's hand and examining it.

"Of course. I didn't want to make a potion I couldn't counter. Could you see the Ministry sending any of you back to Azkaban looking as though you were eight? It would have been a scandal," he said, eyebrow raised.

Draco chuckled. "So, I just drink this, and it'll speed up my aging?"

"I do believe that is what I said," Severus agreed.

"Well, then," Draco replied with a grin, "bottoms up!"

Harry caught his hand before he could toss back the concoction. "Perhaps you should sit down before you do that, Draco. I mean, what if you age while you're standing there?"

"Oh. Right." He moved to one of the chairs and sat down, trying to avoid the eyes of his audience. He lifted the vial and swallowed it down with a gulp, and felt something like an electric charge go through him.

◦♦☼♦◦

Draco came to several minutes later on the couch. Harry was seated next to him, but the others were nowhere in sight. Draco was glad of it. He didn't fancy being the entertainment portion of the evening. "How did I get out here?" he asked.

"You collapsed. I thought you'd be a bit more comfortable out here, so I carried you. You okay?"

Draco nodded. He was a bit sore, but he was used to that, now. "I take it this means it worked?" he asked, bemused.

Harry smiled. "I'd forgotten how strange it was to watch. Of course, the first time you'd aged down, but…"

Draco scooted into a sitting position. "I'm sure I was loads of fun to watch."

Harry sighed. "I didn't mean it that way, Draco…"

"Relax. I was only joking."

"Oh." There was a long pause, then Harry stood up. "Well, the rest of them are in there eating as we speak. I hope you're hungry. Kingsley brought pudding."

Draco grinned. "Famished."

It was a wonderful meal. Even Lucius seemed rather to be enjoying himself, for once. It probably didn't hurt that Severus was there to talk to, but even so, he seemed generally more good-humoured all around. After supper, Harry pulled a pie out of the oven, and some ice cream from the freezer. "So, who's up for pudding?"

It had been so long since Hogwarts, but the simple but delicious pudding brought back so many memories, Draco had to excuse himself to the bathroom to compose himself before he could begin digging in to his own share. Snape refused a slice, and instead busied himself making coffee. It was quite possibly the best evening Draco could recall since well before he'd gone to Azkaban.

Once dinner was over, Shacklebolt pulled Draco into the den. "Here are the other nicknames from that sheet. And the names of the current Azkaban prisoners in the program. If you could match any of them up, we'd be quite grateful, Draco."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "How much more grateful will they get?"

"How about enough to give you back your wand?"

Draco swallowed. That reward was worth anything he could think of. Just the idea of being allowed to do magic again almost made him feel faint. He knew he would have done it, reward or no, but just receiving recognition that his help was that useful… "I'll see what I can do."

"Don't push yourself on it too hard, though. We have other possibilities for catching them. We might have to wait for them to show themselves, anyway."

Draco nodded. "I'll still do what I can, sir."

"Kingsley."

"What?"

Shacklebolt grinned. "It's my name, Draco. I'd be honoured if you called me by it."

Draco managed a smile. "Kingsley, then."

Kingsley turned to go, but Draco caught his arm. "Wait." Kingsley looked at him, expectantly. "The reason they managed to do this as long as they have is because the questions never change on that test. And we all get exactly the same one. Maybe you could find a way to create new questions for them each time? That way there will always be something that could trip one of them up."

Kingsley blinked. "That's a good idea. I'll talk to the people who put the test together and see what they can come up with."

"Good."

"You just work on those names, okay?" Draco nodded, and Kingsley was gone.

Harry came in a few minutes later to see Draco examining the piece of parchment Kingsley had given him. "Hey."

Draco looked up and smiled. "Hi. Just trying to figure these out."

"Well, put it aside for a minute. I have one more surprise for you tonight."

"Oh?" Draco asked, cautiously. Maybe Harry was finally ready to talk?

"Yeah. I got the okay from Kingsley to have Hermione, Ron, and Goyle over for Christmas Eve dinner. I thought you might like to have a visit for the Holidays."

Draco couldn't help the grin that spread across his face then. "Really? You mean it? What about Blaise, or Pansy? I'd love to see them, too."

Harry's face fell a bit. "Well, I don't think the Ministry would allow that many of you in one room. Especially given what you found out today. But Kingsley said one would be okay…"

"Oh. I—understand. Besides, I'm sure you want to see your friends as well. Thank you," he said, trying to keep his disappointment from showing too much.

Harry smiled. "You deserve it, Draco." He left the room before Draco could say anything else.