DISCLAIMER: I am J.K.Rowling. I own everything. I am a millionaire. And I drank a gallon of fire-whisky last night.
The song is from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
-Chapter Fourteen-
Double, double toil and trouble:
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
The Polyjuice Potion
The Dark Lord was in towering temper. Six of his servants, his best deatheaters, had failed to capture one man. Worse, he hadn't got Potter, instead three of his followers have been killed and the others seriously injured. His followers watched him fearfully.
"Don't show me your faces, you worthless fools." He shouted.
Bellatrix came forward and kneeled in front of her Master.
"Master forgive us." She whispered, " we lost him in the dark."
"Your excuse is childish Bella! I will not tolerate such pleadings." Snarled the Dark Lord, "I expected better from you. Crucio."
The room was filled with shrieks and cries in a high-pitched female voice.
Another woman, shaking from her head to feet, stepped forward as the Dark Lord commenced punishing Bellatrix.
"Alecto, what do you have to say? Twelve of my ablest servants were sent to take care of three foolish teenagers and they manage to comeback defeated. What an achievement!" He mocked.
"Master, please forgive us." Alecto gasped.
"Three seventeen year olds kills one of you and injures three others. Explain yourselves."
"Master… they …conjured…the solid shield charm... Snape's killing curse must have backfired…."
"How did they got the time to conjure the shield? What were you doing Amycus? Matrevis? Gurney?" He roared with rage.
"I was stunned, Master." Replied Amycus, looking terrified. Matrevis and Gurney murmured something indistinct.
"Crucio!" the Dark Lord shouted, pointing his wand at them.
"It is all because of that imbecile boy. Snape would not have been part of the raid, but for his stupidity. And now he sits there, in the Order headquarters..."
Narcissa Malfoy did not wait to hear the rest of the sentence. She rushed away from her hiding place behind the door and broke into a run as soon as she was out of their earshot. Her brain was numb. Draco was with the order. Did they capture him? How were they treating him? And the Dark Lord was angry with him because Severus had died. Severus dead, Lucius in Azkaban, Bellatrix herself is in trouble, what was Narcissa to do now?
-XXX-
" Do you think Snape's killing curse backfired or did he die because of the horcrux?" asked Ron in a low voice.
"I don't know." Harry mused," I don't think he would do the Avada Kedarva. He did not want to kill me, " Potter is for the Master," he said, and he would not risk it on you guys when we were all so close and he could easily missed and killed me instead. I think it was the horcrux. He was trying to destroy the shield so …" he trailed off.
"Then it means we can die trying to destroy any of the horcruxes!" Ron was looking pale.
The same thought often plagued Harry but now he shakes his head.
"I don't think so Ron," he said," I mean, I'm not saying that destroying horcruxes won't be dangerous but I don't think all horcruxes to be destroyed in the same way. I mean destroying the diary wasn't so difficult (Ron rolled his eyes) and Dumbledore destroyed the ring, true he lost an arm but …."
There was a knock and Hermione and Ginny entered.
"Tonks and Lupin have come." Hermione announced.
"They are looking dead serious and want to talk to us." Ginny added.
When the four of them entered the kitchen, the Lupins were sitting there with Neville, and Harry was surprised to see Malfoy
The latter was looking pale.
Tonks addressed herself to them. "Draco's mother has been arrested by the aurors. Neither me, nor Kingsley was there and we can do nothing to help her. She entered Gringotts and tried to hex Bill."
Everybody remained silent, trying to register the shock.
"What was she thinking off?" muttered Draco to no one in particular, looking lost.
"Well Draco, I did manage to meet her alone for a few minutes. She looked distracted but what I gathered, she was under the impression that we were holding you captive and she wanted to find you. If only she had tried talking to Bill before----."
A look of horror came across Draco's face. Tonks lightly placed an arm on his shoulder.
"Don't blame yourself, Draco. And don't worry. She will be all right. We will try to get her a fair trial."
But Harry knew she was merely comforting him. If the ministry could put Stan Shunpike in prison, there was no way they were going to release Narcissa Malfoy, not when she had attacked someone in broad daylight. He looked up to find Lupin staring at Malfoy with a calculating look.
"Draco if you don't mind my asking," his tone was light and easy, " do deatheaters these days often frequent their homes in groups?"
Malfoy gulped.
"Well sometimes they do," he said, "I've seen such meetings at our house last year."
"Meetings?" questioned Hermione, with an eyebrow raised.
"Yes, you see Granger," Malfoy replied with what seemed to Harry a forced smirk, "the old mansions are protected with so many spells, like this place is."
Harry could see he was having difficulty speaking. Could his mother's arrest be such a shock to him?
-XXX-
"I can't believe you have been brewing a polyjuice potion in your room without telling us." Said Harry as he watched Hermione pouring the murky potion in a tall beaker.
"I thought I would keep it till I actually finish it." Hermione said primly, "Have you got the hair Neville?"
"Yes, here," the boy said handing her a strand of silvery hair and added, " He said he's going to read in the library to take his mind of things. He's locked it from inside."
Ron smirked. Harry was beginning to feel apprehensive. Could he have been really wrong to trust Malfoy?
"From where did you get ingredients?" Ginny enquired.
"Fred and George." Replied Hermione. The potion turned silvery as she added the hair.
"Looks better than last time." Ron remarked and then looked taken aback as Hermione held out the beaker to him.
"Why do I have to drink it?"
-XXX-
"Narcissa went to Gringotts without my permission," said the Dark Lord coldly, "she must suffer the consequences."
"But Master," Draco tried to plead, " they may torture her for information."
"She knows nothing of importance to cause us any damage." turning suddenly, he pointed his wand towards him "Crucio."
"Let this be a warning to you for not coming here without a reason in future." He said five minutes later to a thoroughly shocked and shaking Draco, and swept of the room, leaving him with Bellatrix who now spoke.
"He is right Draco, you can't come like this unnecessarily, when you have nothing important to say."
Her words ignited his numb brain. He had never been so angry in his life. Not when Potter insulted him on the train on the first day to school, not when he got selected to the Gryffindor Quidditch team in the first year itself, not when Granger slapped him, not even when he was turned into a ferret, not in his entire life.
"Necessity! Importance! It's all his necessity and his importance isn't it? My family does not figure at all in his scheme of things."
Bellatrix gasped but Draco didn't stop. " It's because of him that my father's in Azkaban. And had my mother knows I was spying for him she would not have gone to seek me."
"Don't insult our Master Draco!" screamed Bellatrix, looking white with rage " It's your parents' faults they are in prison. If they act so stupidly they will suffer. Now go back to the order as per his orders."
Draco calmed down suddenly.
"I'm sorry aunt Bellatrix. I should not have spoken of him in this manner. I don't know what came over me. I will obey his orders perfectly from now on."
Her face relaxed and she smiled.
"That's more like a true servant Draco. Now go."
-XXX-
Draco Malfoy apparated back to the library in Twelve Grimauld Place and kicked the door open. With his face flushed and heart pounding, he made his way up the stairs and stopped in front of the room he knew Potter and Weasley shared. He could hear Dumbledore's words: "Change over to the right side Draco…your father at the moment is at Azkaban… we can hide your mother…."
Well, his mother was in Azkaban now; both of them were away from Voldemort. He did not care anymore.
He was about to knock when a thought occurred to him. Will Potter and Weasley really believe he wanted to join the Order? What had he done in six years to even think of them trusting him? He would perhaps do well to speak to Tonks, or Lupin.
Making a mental note to ask Longbottom about Tonk's next visit, he turned towards his own room.
He gasped in surprise as he wearily pushed the door open. Potter, the two Weasleys, Granger and Longbottom were all sitting inside. As he entered, they all looked up at him. Potter stood up and walked slowly over to the spot where Draco was standing, rooted to the floor.
"Back are you?" he asked coldly, "We have been having a little chat with your great aunt's portrait downstairs. So what else did you tell Voldemort?"
P.S: Today's my birthday. Please be nice!