Chapter 9: The Game Is Afoot
After the manor had been attacked they knew that their plan had to be put into action before anything else could happen in the lives. They still had no idea who could have attacked the manor, they didn't think Harry Potter was that hot on their trail and if he was he would have made it known. The Malfoy's still had plenty of enemies in England, but none of them believed it was just someone who didn't like the family. The attack on the Manor did prove one thing, the sooner they got on with the plan, the better their lives would be.
The game was afoot. Draco and Blaise were going to the bar with Uri, neither of them wanted to be too far from her while she was near Harry Potter. Draco had altered his looks a little with a few glamour's so he wouldn't be noticed, and Blaise had checked and re checked with all of his contacts and the person who had been tailing Potter for the last week. They were ready, or as ready as they were ever going to be.
Uriel had been in her room for four three getting ready; she knew that she needed to look the part that she needed to do anything to get Harry Potter's attention. She put on the sexiest outfit she had, she had used a curling charm so that her long blonde hair was in perfect waves down her back, she even used a spell to add some red highlights to her hair, Ginny had said he could never resist a redhead.
Finally after what seemed like forever she made her appearance in front of her brother, Ginny and Blaise.
"How do I look?" she asked and Ginny could tell her friend was nervous.
Three jaws dropped. Uriel was wearing a short gold strapless cocktail dress. She also had a red rose choker around her neck and a red rose in her hair. Ginny knew that the subconscious Gryffindor tendencies in Harry Potter's head would notice the red and gold colors and be even more drawn to her.
"Uri you look amazing, he won't be able to resist you." Ginny walked up and put a comforting arm around her friend.
The girls heard Draco grumble about a napkin sized dress, and his only sister risking being mauled by Harry Potter, but he nodded his overall approval.
"Blaise what do you think?" Uriel turned to him.
Ginny looked at the object of her best friends affections, he hadn't closed his mouth since Uriel walked in the room. Draco reached over and closed it for him, snapping Blaise out of his trance.
"Any man would be crazy to not snap his neck to look at you."
Uriel blushed a little at his words, Draco just gave him an odd look and said.
"It's time to get going."
Before Blaise could embarrass himself more, he raised his wand and apparated away to the bar their spy had told him Harry Potter would be at tonight. Draco narrowed his eyes and followed his friend. Uriel had to wait a few minutes while everything was set in motion before she could make her appearance.
"Don't be nervous Uri, just relax. He will love you no matter what, that's what we want anyway. Draco and Blaise will be right there, nothing will happen to you I promise."
Ginny could feel tears welling up in her eyes, afraid of what her husband might do to this amazing women she loved as a sister, and who was willing to risk so much for her. She was surprised however when she saw the shine of tears in the older women's eyes as well. Ginny pulled her future sister into a hug.
"I promise everything will be fine, and tomorrow we'll all have a family dinner together, and soon none of us will ever have to worry about Harry Potter again."
"I love you Ginny," Uriel said, finally breaking away from her. "I always wanted a sister and I never got one. I had a little brother I kept locked away in my heart and was an only child for so many years. I'm so glad that now after all this time I have someone like you in my life, a sister and a best friend. I kept most of my friends at arms length when I was at school not letting many people get close, because I was afraid they would be ripped away from me. I will do anything to protect my family, and you must know that you are part of my family now too."
Ginny couldn't say anything; she just pulled Uri into another hug. Not even Hermione, who was related to her by marriage and who she had always considered her best friend had told her anything like that. Before either of them could get another word out though Draco's patronus came and told his sister that they were ready for her. Ginny gave her one last hug, and watched, more than a little nervous, as she apparated away.
DGDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDG
Uriel walked into the small pub that Harry Potter frequented. As she entered she looked around to try and get her wits about her. Blaise was in a booth in the corner close enough to the bar that he would be able to hear everything. Draco, with his glamoured features, was altered enough to tend the bar so he would be right there if his sister needed anything. He and Blaise had bribed the owner, and bartender of the pub to take a few days off and not ask questions when he came back. He would also be able to see to the drinks that Uriel and Potter would order, make sure they contained what they needed to. She also saw that the bar was filled with the people Blaise and her brother had paid to be in the bar, and to keep their mouths shut. The only other person there was of course the great Harry Potter, already half pissed at the bar. Draco had been slipping alcohol accelerant potions into his drinks and he was halfway to being three sheets to the wind.
She walked further into the bar and saw Blaise's assistant, Todd, who was the man who Blaise had picked to fake harassing her. Blaise had threatened the poor boy with getting fired if he didn't do this for them. Uriel took a deep breath as he walked up to her, and she mouthed sorry to him as he gave her one last regret filled look. Without another word Todd grabbed her arm and Uri made a big show of struggling.
"Get off of me, I said no!" Uriel began her rehearsed lines loudly.
"Come on baby one drink?" Todd made a good show of acting drunk.
"No, I don't want to drink with you," Uri struggled more.
She saw Potter turn around out of the corner of her eye and get off of his bar stool. She nodded to Todd and he went for the kill. He gripped her other arm and tried to bring her close to him.
"At least give me a kiss for my troubles love?
"Please don't, I don't want anything to do with you. No!"
Uriel saw a dark piece of wood slide under Todd's chin.
"I believe the lady would like for her to leave you alone," Harry Potter said looking at him as menacingly as he could in his advancing state of drink.
Todd froze, and Uri couldn't tell if his horror was acting or if he was afraid that he had become Harry Potter's newest foe. Uri mouthed sorry to him, feeling horrible that he was being put in this position.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" Harry asked, never letting his wand leave the man's throat.
"Harry Potter?" Todd's voice quivered a little bit.
"Yes, I am Harry Potter, I own the wizarding world, and I say you don't touch her. Now get out!"
Todd dropped Uriel's arm and ran out of the bar not needing any more threats of Harry Potter. Uriel made a mental note to herself to tell Blaise and Draco to give him some more money. Potter finally turned back to Uriel and she smiled at him.
"Thank you so much Mr. Potter," she gave him her brightest Malfoy smile. "I didn't know what to do to get him away from me."
"My pleasure Mrs….?"
"It's Ms," she assured him. "Ms. Allegra Van Alan, the pleasure is all mine Mr. Potter."
"Please call me Harry. Can I buy you a drink?"
Uri giggled a little. "I think I should be buying you a drink Harry, you are the one who helped me."
"Well," Harry moved closer to her. "Me first, and then you."
'Which is how your whole sex life goes according to Ginny,' Uriel thought to herself.
She just smiled and followed him to the bar letting him help her into a seat and order drinks for them. She watched as her brother dropped an anti alcohol potion in her drink and another accelerant into Harry Potter's drink.
They each took a sip. "So what brings the great Harry Potter to a tiny little bar like this?"
Harry laughed. "I just need to unwind sometimes. I like to come here because no one bothers me."
"The life of Harry Potter must be hard to deal with." Uriel smiled and took another sip.
"You have no idea," he threw the rest of his drink back clearly inebriated. "I don't remember you being at Hogwarts, were you a few years below me, ahead of me?"
"No, I went to Beauxbatons," she assured him. "I was born in London but I have lived most of my life in France. I just recently moved back to London."
"Figures, because if you had gone to Hogwarts Allegra, I might not have married Ginny Weasley."
Uri tried her best to hide her look of disgust and signaled to Draco; he pulled out a small vial of Veritaserum and poured two drops in Harry's drink along with a bit of a sense dulling potion so he couldn't taste it. Uriel took a deep breath as the drinks arrived and he took his first sip. She kept up the small talk for a few more minutes while she waited for the potion to settle and then she asked a question Ginny told her his usual answer and the real answer.
"So Harry I was wondering, what has been the happiest day of your life?"
Ginny told her that for the press and for strangers he still had to keep his 'Golden Boy' appearance up for his answer was usually "It's a tie for me between the day I defeated Voldemort and made the world safe again, and the day I became a father." But his real answer was.
"The day I became captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team." He answered.
She paused for a moment to see if he noticed, when he didn't seem to think anything was amiss Uriel began the third degree.
"So Harry, where is your wife and your daughter?"
"I don't know," Harry turned toward her. "And really I don't care. I should have never gotten married Allegra. At least not to Ginny Weasley, to a girl like you maybe but not her."
Uri took a deep breath, this was going to be harder then she thought. "What is so bad about her?"
Harry seemed to pause for a moment and Uri held her breath. She sighed a little when he burped and promptly answered her.
"She is just a constant reminder that I am who I am. I am sick of being reminded of who I was, because I am not that person anymore. The Harry Potter before Voldemort was a loving boy who would have done anything for anyone he loved. Now I am a bitter man old before his time weighed down by the world that was put on his shoulders at such a young age. I look at Ginny and I can see in her eyes that I am not who she fell in love with all those years ago."
"And what do you do when that happens?" Uri asked getting anxious, glad Draco was hanging on every word as well, somehow keeping himself calm.
"I hit her. I can't count the number of times I've beaten Ginny. I don't like it, but I don't know what else to do. I just hate her, and the way that her very presence makes me feel. For all I know she could be dead right now. We had a fight months ago and I beat her really badly, and she ran off with our daughter and I don't know what happened to either of them."
He was three sheets to the wind at this point, but the potion made him keep talking, answering whatever Uri asked of him.
"You said it has been months and you still don't know where your wife or your child is?"
Harry shook his head. "But to be honest it might be for the best. If I don't see them I can't hit them or hurt them."
"Have you hit your child?"
"No Allegra, I have never hit Emily. Ginny has always taken the heat for her. If I want to hit Emily, Ginny steps in front of her. I want to hit my daughter, I hate that I even have a daughter because I am not the father I should be. God isn't that horrible, that I think these things."
Uri didn't know what to say, but that was not going to stop Harry from talking.
"Ever since the war I am not a good person, and yet I can't do wrong. I have beaten my wife, I have tried to beat my daughter and yet I am still on this pedestal. Everyone still thinks that I am the Boy Who Lived, but I would rather be dead. I take out my frustrations on my family so that I can be happy for the press."
"I heard you used to hate the attention for your fame, why do you like it so much now?"
"It is the only thing I have," Harry looked up at her. "I have nothing in this world Allegra. I don't know where my wife and child are and even if I did I think they are best without me. My best friends have each other and don't need me they have their families. I have no one now, and it's really better that way. I am not usually this calm either, I walk around like Lucius Malfoy used to, like I own the world. And I really do think I own the world, there are very few people who wouldn't trip over themselves to do whatever I asked for them. Ginny's family even holds me over her. She has been trying to tell them about the abuse for years and they still won't believe her. I have to drink so I won't treat everyone like I treat my wife."
"How is that?" Uri asked pretty sure that they almost had exactly what they wanted.
"Like she, and everyone else around me, is expendable. I don't care about anyone anymore."
After hearing that Blaise cast Stupefy on him from behind. He just slid onto the bar looking like any other drunk passed out after one too many. Uriel slid out the front door, Blaise and Draco slid out around back. When they all met up a few streets away, Draco was waving his wand over his features setting them back to rights as Uri had already done with her hair. When the boys caught up with her they could tell she had been crying. Blaise pulled her close to him and let her cry into his shoulder. She didn't even notice when Blaise raised his wand along with Draco and they apparated back to the manor in France.
Ginny and Narcissa were waiting in the study for them when they arrived home. Blaise sat Uri down on the couch and Ginny automatically went to her and tried to comfort her.
"Mother will you please go to the kitchen and fetch us some tea please." Draco turned to his mother who tried to go to her daughter's side. "She needs a moment or two before you start to smother her mother."
Narcissa didn't even try to argue; she hadn't seen Uriel like this in a long time. So she did as her son told her and went to get some tea and food for them all.
When Narcissa had finally left Uri spoke.
"I knew it was going to be bad but I had no idea. He is horrible, he had no remorse for anything, and I don't know if it was because of the veritaserum or if he just doesn't care who he hurts. He said he wanted to hit Emily, how could anyone ever want to hit that gorgeous wonderful little girl?"
Ginny wished she could say she was surprised to hear that her husband had said something like that but she really wasn't.
"More then anything I feel sorry for him. He had a chance for a happy life after the war and he has just let it pass him by. He is too caught up in his own selfishness to see what he could have had. Too caught up in his own suffering to see that there are so many people around him that would have helped. Instead he let himself become this horrible monster who cares for no one but himself."
Draco pulled three vials out of his pocket. Uriel composed herself enough to put her wand to her temple and pull out the memory. Draco and Blaise did the same, and when all three accounts of the night were safe in the vials Blaise sent them off to his office by owl so he could keep them safe till the trial.
"There are no words to thank you for what you have done for my daughter and I," Ginny said from her position on the floor, taking her friends hand. "How can I ever repay you?"
The older women gave her friend a watery smile. "Marry my brother and give me a few more children to dote on and we'll call it even."
Ginny smiled back and pulled her future sister into a fierce hug as Narcissa came back. The room was quiet as they all sipped their tea, no one really wanting to recount the events of the night anymore than they already had. Uri drained her cup in just a few minutes, and a few minutes after that she was all but falling asleep on Blaise's shoulder.
"I put a calming draught and a dreamless sleep potion in her cup," Narcissa explained. "I wanted her to get some sleep and I knew that would be the only way she could."
Blaise scooped her up into his arms. "I'll take her to her room and then I'll go home."
"No," Uri protested weakly. "Stay with me. I don't want you to go."
Ginny couldn't help but smile at both Draco and Narcissa's reactions to that statement. Draco looked a little shocked and suddenly untrusting of his friend. Narcissa looked like she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
"Blaise, you best do as she asks. She has had a long day." Narcissa told him as Draco's mouth hung open. "But you best sleep on the floor or on the couch in her room. If I catch you in that bed you will be in a world of trouble Mister."
"Yes Ma'am," Blaise said exiting the room.
"Mother!" Draco exclaimed after they left. "Your letting him stay in her room with her?"
"Draco, Blaise has been in love with your sister since the day he met her. She took a little longer than him to realize she loved him too, I think she still hasn't admitted it to herself, but there they are. Now just relax and let it happen, don't push, and don't try to pull them apart. Just see what happens okay love?"
Without another word Narcissa kissed her son on the cheek and went to bed herself. Draco turned to Ginny; he had so much he wanted to say to her.
"We'll talk tomorrow, I know you're tired, we don't have to talk right now. Go rest and we'll talk tomorrow."
She gave him a kiss and he walked her to her room.
"You and Blaise, and Uri are too amazing for words. I owe you three so much, but we can talk about this later."
Ginny gave him one last kiss and they both went to bed. They knew that their problems would be waiting for them tomorrow and tonight was a very small victory. Still it was one step in the right direction, the game was afoot.
DG
Okay this has probably been the hardest chapter for me to write. I'm sorry if it sucks. To make up for the fact that it might not be the best I am posting a Me and Emily excerpt from a later chapter on my blog. The link is in my author information.
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I love each and every one of my fans and followers! Working hard on chapter 10…wait and see where the plot goes next.