Picking Up the Pieces Chapter Ten Draco's Sense of Entitlement & Breakfast with Tonks
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Harry awoke the next morning after having a very interesting dream about Ginny, and saw that he was still on the train.
Hermione and Ron were both still asleep, rather cutely snuggled together. Harry grinned. Ron would probably have an aneurysm when he woke up. He didn't see why Ron didn't just go for it. He still wasn't sure whether he wanted them together or not, but couldn't help but feel that the speed (or lack thereof) of their relationship progression was just getting ridiculous.
As he stretched and put on his glasses, he noticed the train was slowing down as they rattled into Darkmoor Station.
As the train finally came to a halt, Ron and Hermione woke up. Hermione looked around, saw her head was on Ron's shoulder, and smiled sleepily.
Ron, on the other hand, noticed Hermione as well and nervously withdrew his hand from around her shoulder.
"Morning, Harry!" Ron said, his voice squeaky.
Harry just looked at him incredulously, shaking his head.
Hermione smoothed down her hair.
"Are we there?" She asked.
"Just now. Welcome to Darkmoor." Harry motioned out the window.
True to its name, the entire town looked gray and
foreboding. It also practically screamed MONEY.
Everything about it looked old, expensive, and
frightening.
"I feel right at home." Ron grinned, getting their luggage as he finally woke up.
The three friends walked out among the throng of people getting off, receiving many disapproving glances for their rumpled appearances.
"Snobs." Hermione said under her breath.
They stepped out into rain-soaked morning, pulling their jackets tightly around their shoulders.
"Hmm...where could Malfoy Manor be?" Harry said sarcastically.
They all followed his gaze to a hill off from the
center of town. A dark gray mansion with turrets,
gargoyles, and statues in the front gated lawn loomed
before them.
"I surprised there's not a moat." Ron smiled.
"Or a dragon guarding the tallest tower." Hermione added.
"Knowing the Malfoys, there probably is one." Harry rolled his eyes, leading the way towards the hill.
--
Lupin woke up the next morning to the smell of sizzling bacon, warm biscuits, and scrambled eggs. He rolled over to see a rainy day pounding against the window.
But instead of shivering under some miserable blanket,
he was pleasantly warm beneath soft cotton sheets,
safe in Tonks' familiar bedroom.
He looked around the room, seeing a picture on the nightstand of he and Tonks that Sirius had taken one night at Grimmauld Place. Sirius had said he wanted pictures of everyone over Christmas, so he kept surprising people over the holidays with that blasted camera. Tonks had said one of her randomly hilarious comments that had made Lupin laugh so hard he was leaning over with his hands on his knees, about to fall off the couch (they had both had quite a bit of eggnog, and it was very late). She was smiling widely at him, with a bowl of popcorn in her lap as the Christmas tree lights twinkled behind them. Sirius had walked in, taken the picture, and teased Lupin mercilessly about being plastered from eggnog. It was one of the few times Lupin had seen Sirius genuinely smile in his time at Grimmauld Place.
Lupin felt a warm feeling fill his chest as he looked at the picture. No one had ever made him happy like she could. He had never really loved a woman, not like this. It was bizarre, and unexpected, and perfect.
"Morning!" Tonks said brightly, coming into the bedroom with a tray full of breakfast food and the Daily Prophet tucked under the plate.
Lupin looked at her, standing there in her bright pink pajamas, her now blond hair in a pixie cut and her blue eyes shining brightly.
He grinned.
"What?" She said, setting the tray in his lap and snuggling up beside him under the covers.
"You just looked so...domestic."
"Really?" She wrinkled her nose.
"No, I like it. It's very...sexy."
"Remus Lupin just said sexy. Stop the presses." She kissed his cheek, opening the paper.
"You still read that? It's so depressing." Lupin said,
starting to eat and trying to do it somewhat politely.
He was so hungry he could have happily shoveled it all
in his mouth.
"I have to stay informed. If something bad happened,
and I didn't know about it when I went to work- boy,
would my face be red." She grinned.
"Gotcha." He replied between bites of bacon.
"You don't think it will be a problem? Me coming into the Ministry?" He asked her, swallowing.
"I've already cleared you. And if anyone makes trouble about it, I'll kick their ass." She shrugged.
"When do you have to be at work?"
"Nine."
"You do realize it's 8:30?"
"You better get ready then." She patted his arm.
"You're going in your pajamas?" He looked at her.
She sighed, standing up, wrinkling her nose, suddenly wearing black pinstripe pants and a hot pink sweater.
"Done." She put her hands up.
"I wish it was that easy." Lupin motioned to his dirty clothes strewn on the floor.
She smiled, walking over to the closet and pulling out a white button-down shirt with a dark blue t-shirt with nice dark jeans and dress shoes.
"Surprise, darling." She lay the new clothes on the bed.
He looked at them.
"You didn't have to do this."
"It was my pleasure. You've been living in a cave. I figured you hadn't kept up with the trends. You get dressed- I've got to go clean up the kitchen. I broke a few things in the process of breakfast."
--
Snape and Draco walked up the hill of Darkmoor,
shrouded in the horrible weather surrounding them.
"Lovely morning." Draco rolled his eyes.
Snape didn't even look at him, but remained looking at Malfoy Manor with a strange expression on his face.
They finally reached the wrought iron gates.
"I'm assuming you know how to open it." Snape looked at him.
"Of course." Draco stepped up to the lock, taking out his wand.
He looked at Snape.
"Could you turn around? It's rather a family secret."
Snape narrowed his eyes, but complied.
Draco looked around the empty hillside, muttered
something under his breath, and the lock clicked open.
They stepped through the open gate into the wet statue
garden out front. The statues all stood proudly in the
wet morning with horribly arrogant looks on their
faces, representing generations of Malfoys.
"Think rather highly of yourselves, don't we?" Snape commented, reading the inscriptions of the Malfoy's grand deeds.
"We have every right to." Draco said, a practiced sneer on his pointed face.
They finally reached the front of the house, two huge black doors with enormous iron knockers.
Snape opened his mouth to say something, but Draco cut him off knowingly.
"Everytime my mom lets someone in, they feel compelled to say 'what knockers.' It's quite disturbing."
"I had no intention of saying anything like that"
Snape looked down his nose at him.
"I-I know...I just thought it was a funny story"
Draco mumbled, opening the front doors with a strange
tapping motion with his wand.
They walked into the grand entryway, complete with a fountain of a snake with water coming out from the tip of its pointed tongue, green marble floors, and enormous stained glass windows on the high ceiling showing accomplishments of the Malfoys in years gone by.
"Home sweet home." Draco crossed his arms proudly, as if asking Snape what he thought.
"Decadence does not equal class, Mr. Malfoy." Snape said, walking into the Grand Library as if he'd been here hundreds of times.
"Excuse me, you can't just go tromping around my house!" Draco's sense of entitlement came out in full force.
"Whyever not?" Snape turned around, looking rather frightening in all black as lightning from the storm illuminated his outline.
Draco swallowed.
"Tromp around if you must." He said more subserviently.
Snape smiled slightly, turning back around and heading to the study.
"The last time I was here, the security measures were far more stringent." Snape said, begininng to flip through books.
"When were you here last time?" Draco asked curiously,
looking through the his father's collection of books
as well.
"Your parents' wedding." Snape said casually.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Well, I guess my father loosened up a little after we had to sell or hide everything...questionable. You know." Draco smiled.
"Indeed." Snape snapped the book shut, moving on to the next one.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, three friends were watching them from the corner of the library, safe beneath the Invisibility Cloak.
--
Tonks and Lupin walked past the Security desk, feeling very harrassed.
"You know, there are times I wish you could just turn that werewolf thing on whenever you wanted." She whispered.
"I don't think that would have made me anymore trustworthy." Lupin grinned, affixing his visitor badge to his new shirt.
"I know...that woman was treating you like some kind of criminal though. It's just Umbridge's influence."
"A woman that horrible apparently has residual effects."
"Yeah. Could you believe she came to Dumbledore's funeral?" Tonks shook her head angrily.
"Very bad taste." Lupin agreed, seeing several people eye him as they walked through the hall.
Tonks rolled her eyes, taking his hand.
"Don't let ignorant people bother you." She said quietly.
They walked together to the Auror Office, where Kingsley smiled widely at both of them, shaking Lupin's hand. Tonks led him to the Holding Area, where Narcissa still sat silently in her cell, her long blond hair limp and her thin body growing frighteningly skeletal. Demetrius was waiting for them.
"Hey, boss. This is Remus Lupin. Remus, this is Demetrius Alvers, the head honcho of my department."
The two men shook hands.
"I've heard good things." Remus said, smiling congenially.
"That's funny- I've heard nothing about you from Nymphadora. How do you two know each other?"
Tonks sighed.
"I told you, we worked together."
Demetrius looked between them, his old eyes crinkling with a smile.
"All right. She's all yours, Remus."
"Pardon me?"
"Mrs. Malfoy. She's just been itching for visitors"
Demetrius motioned towards the door, leaving them
alone.
"Put your game face on." Tonks said, opening the door for them.
Narcissa looked up, her blue eyes bearing dark circles beneath them. She looked exhausted.
"What now?" She choked out.
Tonks summoned a glass of water.
"Take a sip, Mrs. Malfoy." She handed it to her.
Narcissa complied, downing the entire glass. She swallowed, her eyes on Lupin.
"You're that teacher. From Hogwarts. You taught my son in his third year."
"Yes, and your husband was one of the main reasons I was fired." Lupin said, keeping a friendly tone in his voice.
"The werewolf." Narcissa said, as Tonks took the glass of water away.
"Yes. We also attended Hogwarts together. Do you remember?" Lupin asked, sitting on the chair in front of her.
Narcissa looked at him critically.
"No."
"I was your tutor in Defense Against the Dark Arts during your fifth and sixth years. We met for sessions every week. Remus Lupin."
Narcissa looked at him carefully for a moment longer.
"Oh, yes. You look so different now...so old."
Tonks rolled her eyes.
"Well, time is no man's friend." Remus smiled at her warmly.
Narcissa's eyes narrowed.
"Are you here to question me again?"
"Yes."
"Good luck. Your little friend here couldn't manage it, what makes you think you're any better?"
"It's imperative we know the information you're keeping from us. My previous experience with you makes it easier to access the memories."
Narcissa's lip trembled nervously.
"Just tell me where Snape is, and what you know about Regulus, and I don't have to do any of this." Lupin said, leaning towards her slightly, confidentially.
She said nothing, closing her eyes miserably.
"I'm sorry. Then I have to do this." He put his hands on either side of her temple.
Narcissa bit her lip, about to cry out with the effort she was expending on closing her mind to him.
Tonks watched her, feeling strangely empathetic. What was she so desperate to hide?
"Cognito." Lupin murmured, closing his eyes as well.
He felt the rushing wind over both of them that signified the spell beginning. Her memories began flashing before him like pages in a flipbook. He heard her sobbing as he was able to finally close in on one of a very pretty little blond girl in a pink dress. He concentrated with everything in him on that image. If he could get in, he could access all of it...everything she was hiding. They would know what they needed at last.
Tonks watched both of them shaking with opposing efforts.
Suddenly they both stopped moving. Their eyes started fluttering behind their eyelids, and Tonks knew that he had done it. They were both lost in each other's memories, uncovering each other's secrets.
Everything she was hiding could finally be known.
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A/N- Next chapter will chiefly be in Lupin and Narcissa's la-la-lands of memories. Please review!