Endgame Part One: Déjà vu

Ginny and Al were riveted, watching the evening news. The anchor reported that a video had surfaced implicating ARK Corporation in an organized crime scandal,

"Which may go all the way to the top," the blonde reported cheerfully, seemingly having forgotten that it was Severus Snape that owned her television station. She was utterly unaware that reporting the story could put more than her job on the line…

But killing her wouldn't do him any good now, Snape mused, as the video of Lockhart and Dursley came on the screen.

"I don't want to listen to your excuses!" Dursley cut him off. "Whatever happened shouldn't affect the weight of this envelope. Look: You leave the business district alone; kick twenty percent of your take over to Snape and ARK, and the rest of the city is yours. That's not only fair, that's generous," Dursley admonished the smuggler.

The video had been released online first; who knew how many citizens had seen it before the reporters had caught on and rushed to get their 'scoop' on the air? It was far too late to make the video vanish. He'd simply have to explain it away, instead.

~HP~

"Why aren't you smiling?" Harry asked his partner the next morning. The two were standing towards the back of the crowd at Severus Snape's press conference. Harry had expected Orwell to be thrilled that they'd finally accomplished their mission; Snape was as good as destroyed.

Hermione shushed him, still unable to explain to Harry that that was her father at the podium, her father that she had strived so tirelessly to bring down. Now that he was on the brink of toppling, she found she couldn't bear it. Oh, Merlin, how had they come to this point?

"While I am as shocked as all of you," Severus addressed the crowd, "this does confirm what I have suspected for months: Officials high up in ARK Corporation are involved with organized crime. I take full responsibility for this," he lied smoothly, the thought of turning himself in never crossing his mind.

"I only ask," Snape continued, "that you give me time to complete my internal investigation. As we speak, my men are about to make an arrest."

"What's he playing at?" Harry frowned. Their proof had been irrefutable; surely Snape wasn't about to evade justice again?

"Buckle up," Hermione replied, her mind racing as she tried to read her father's. "Chess is about to make his countermove."

~DM~

"Why aren't you at the press conference?" Astoria asked her husband. "You're the Chief of Police; you should be making a statement, too."

"Snape told me to stand down and wait for instructions," Draco replied as their son, Scorpius, finished his breakfast, and went to go play with his toy dinosaurs on the windowsill.

"So you are nothing more than his puppet?" Astoria asked, earning a glare.

"Don't you dare talk to me that way! And don't you presume to tell me how to do my job!"

"Well, I don't see you doing it! Maybe this position wasn't worth it, Draco. It's done nothing but bring us trouble—"

Neither of them noticed the officer outside their window put a finger to his lips, indicating for Scorpius to remain silent and not give him away. They did notice a minute later when the door burst open and half a dozen uniformed and armed men swarmed the Malfoy residence.

"GET DOWN!" sounded through the air. Draco, uncomprehending, dropped to his knees, his hands raised to show he wasn't armed. He addressed Yaxley.

"What the, what are you doing? What's going on?"

"Draco Malfoy," Yaxley smiled, "you're under arrest."

INSERT THEME MUSIC

"You SON OF A BITCH!" Malfoy screamed, as Severus Snape walked into the visitor's room at the ARK Detention Facility. "They came into my house, waving guns in front of my family because of you! You had me arrested—"

"I'm doing you a favor," Snape said, as he lowered himself into the chair across from Malfoy. "Now you'll have an opportunity to be useful."

"You piece of—!"

"Careful," Snape cut him off. "Consider, Draco, that this can play out two different ways. One, you decide to testify against me, but before you can, your body is found hanging in your cell, suspended from the ceiling by your bed sheets. No doubt your suicide is due to your overwhelming grief from the tragic loss of your wife and your son.

"Or two, you keep your mouth shut, take the fall, serve your time in prison and I will have your family provided for. While you're thinking it over, keep in mind that your own lawyer won't take your calls, so Astoria can stop trying to ring her. Not that Astoria would be able to pay her fees at the moment, as I've had all your assets frozen."

"You can't do that," Malfoy insisted. "You don't have that power!"

"The District Attorney has that power and I own the D.A. Do the math. You complain that your house was invaded," Severus sneered. "This is my house," he declared, gesturing around the Detention Facility, but implying the whole of the city. With that pronouncement, he headed for the door.

~GP~

"You shouldn't have come, Ginny," Malfoy said, suppressing a sigh at his latest visitor.

"How does it feel, Malfoy? To be framed as Harry was framed?"

"Ginny—"

"I know that you were! I'm not going to sit back and watch it happen. Maybe I couldn't save Harry, but I can help you!"

"Guard!" Malfoy rapped on the door. The guard outside opened it, looking at Malfoy questioningly.

"No one else will help you, Malfoy! I'm the only one you have!" the redhead insisted. Resigned, the blonde gestured for the guard to close the door. Draco turned back to the attorney.

"You've already been convicted by the press," Ginny added, as if Malfoy needed reminding. "Al has to live with everyone thinking and saying the worst about his father. If you don't do something, your son will, too."

"Ginny," Malfoy shook his head. "I wouldn't want Scorpius to know about half of the things I've done."

She blinked.

"My hands aren't clean. I just, I didn't have a choice, I couldn't let anything happen to my family and he threatened them—"

"Who? Snape?" she asked. "Malfoy, if you testify against him—"

"I'll die. And so will Astoria, and so will Scorpius. No," he shook his head. "We'd be killed, the same way Harry was killed. I can't put my family in danger, Ginny, surely you can respect that."

"I can't respect anything that would let Harry's killers escape justice," Ginny replied. "But you don't have to make your mind up about cooperating right now. The first thing I've got to do is start on your bail application."

"You would help me, even if I can't help you in return?" Malfoy questioned.

"Malfoy, you were the best man at our wedding. You're family and I believe in sticking by family." The fact that she hadn't heard from some of her brothers in ages wasn't her fault. They were the ones that had dropped off the map. "I think the right thing to do—for society as well as yourself—is to cooperate with the government, tell them who is really behind all this. But you're the client; the decision is up to you. I'll be in touch about the bail.

"In the meantime, sit tight. Prison may suck, but it can also be the safest place to be."

~SS~

Gilderoy Lockhart arrived at Madame Malkin's to find the proprietress fitting Severus Snape for a new suit.

"Can't you get her to come to you?" Gilderoy inquired.

"Madame Malkin has worked for royalty. Clients go to her."

"I see. Should we be seen together now?" Goldilocks asked. "Might make the front page; after all, that damning video is still fresh in everyone's minds."

"If you'll recall, your face is in that video, not mine," Severus drawled.

"Ah, but that video portrays me as the victim," Gilderoy countered. "The poor businessman being shaken down for money, tut, tut, people can relate to that. Your corporation on the other hand…"

"It's nothing I can't handle," Severus replied.

"Then why am I here?" Gilderoy asked.

"Madame Malkin," Severus said, as he stepped down from the stool, "please fit this gentleman next. I'll cover the bill."

"How thoughtful, Severus," Gilderoy said, as he ascended the stool, "and a good way to try to buy my silence, but I still doubt that's why I'm here."

"Firstly," Severus began, "there's a lawyer, Potter—she's stirring up trouble, trying to convince Malfoy to talk."

"And you want her killed?"

"Don't be daft. I don't need her to be a martyr. Just scare her off."

"Consider it done. What else? There must be other thorns in your side you want taken care of. The Cape comes to mind."

He tends to do that, Severus mused.

"Yes, I've been thinking about our vigilante problem. Him you can take out."

Chess had wanted the Cape dead. Severus hadn't heard a word from Chess since the last visit with Dumbledore. Perhaps that should have been a relief, but he found that he missed Chess' insights. He didn't believe Albus about Chess being gone forever.

If the Cape died, maybe Chess would come back.

"With pleasure," Lockhart replied. "There's just one thing. If I do this, then in the future you'll be paying me, not the other way around."

"Alright, but if the lawyer doesn't take your warning to heart, I want Malfoy eliminated, too."

"Buy one murder, get one free, eh?" Lockhart flashed his teeth in a grin. "I think that can be arranged."

~HP~

"Harry," back at the hideout, Hermione frowned at the computer screen. "A large sum of money just changed hands, wired to Gilderoy Lockhart's account. The kind of money that you pay to have someone killed," she added.

"Do you know who the target is?" Harry asked.

"It could be anyone—Malfoy, you, Ginny…"

"Ginny?" Harry asked, alarmed.

"Didn't you hear? Ginny's taking Malfoy's case. Trying to protect him from Snape is like hurling yourself in front of a buzz saw. Where are you going?" she asked, as she saw him grab his cape. "Are you going to convince her to drop the case?"

"Me? I couldn't even persuade her to switch to generic aspirin," Harry replied.

"Then where…?"

"I'm going to throw myself between my wife and the buzz saw," Harry explained.

Worried for his safety, Hermione watched him go. This vendetta against her father was too dangerous, she saw that now. That contract could very well have been taken out on Harry's life. She had to make sure Lockhart couldn't carry it out.

She had some calls to make.

Author's Note: And so begins the "Harry Potter and the Carnival of Crime" version of "Endgame."

Thanks to IronAmerica for betaing the chapter! And thanks to IronAmerica and DixonVixen93, formerly known as Orwell, for reviewing!

Well, like Hermione said, "Buckle up."