Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.
Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here is the next chappie. Enjoy!
Chapter Forty One
James watched in silence as his eldest son paced the corridor, his hands balled into fists, head bowed either in distressed thoughts or silent prayers. Harry's clothes were still stained with Draco's blood but Harry didn't seem to notice. He was too busy waiting for the Healer to come out of the room and deliver Draco's fate.
James looked up at Sirius who was sitting across from him. He was watching Harry as well. Next to him were Remus and Lily. They were sitting with their heads lowered, not a word was spoken amongst them. Dumbledore and Tonks were sitting next to James. The only person not sitting down was Harry. James had tried to get him to sit but Harry was too worked up to be able to sit down.
James hadn't seen what condition Draco Malfoy was in when Harry brought him here. He along with the others had apparated to Black Manor shortly after Harry. But unlike Harry, they had to get out of Potter Manor before the wards would let them apparate. When they got to Black Manor they saw from the distance, Harry disapparating with a bloodied body in his arms.
James and Sirius had run inside Black Manor to discover the dead body of Marco Black. They had brought him to St Mungos even though it was clear that he was dead.
James couldn't believe what had happened. In the space of half an hour he had been informed of two deaths and a horrendous attack.
James found himself praying that Draco recovered. It wasn't so much that he cared for the boy, he hardly knew him. But the boy was the same age as Harry. He had risked his life to help rescue Harry from Voldemort and he knew that Harry cared deeply about him. He was Harry's best friend.
The doors at the end of the corridor banged open catching everyone's attention. They swung around to see Narcissa Malfoy rushing towards them. The look on her face broke James' heart. He looked around to see Lily looking compassionately at her as well. They knew perfectly well how she must be feeling right now. They had come close to losing Harry so many times, they understood the emotion Narcissa was feeling very well.
Narcissa stopped in front of Harry, who had stopped his pacing and was now standing before her. Narcissa's red rimmed eyes were searching Harry. She opened her mouth to speak but found she couldn't. A soft cry left her instead. She wanted to ask Harry what had happened, she wanted to know how such a thing could have happened to her family, to her brother and her son, but she didn't have the strength in her.
Sirius got up and was at his cousin's side in a matter of seconds. Narcissa took one look at Sirius before turning to him and collapsing in his arms in sobs.
"Sirius!" she cried. "Marco! He's…he's…and Draco!" she was sobbing hard and couldn't get her words out.
"Shh, it'll be alright. Everything will work out." Sirius comforted his cousin while embracing her.
Sirius was always much closer to Bella as Narcissa was older than him. He gave up all contact with her when she decided to marry Lucius Malfoy. Today however, he couldn't stand back and see a member of his family suffer like this. He knew that she was now left all alone and he was the only family member present. Well, him and Tonks but she didn't really know Narcissa well enough to comfort her. Not since the Black family disowned Andromena after she married muggle-born Ted Tonks. No one from the Black family even attended Andromena's funeral, a few years ago, no one except Sirius of course.
Tonks stood next to Dumbledore and watched as her aunt Narcissa broke down in tears. Lily and James walked over to the sobbing woman. They didn't know her that well, but they could understand what she was going through and wanted to comfort her.
Harry didn't know what to say or how to react and just stood next to the distraught mother. He didn't think he could say anything to her that would make her feel better. He let the people around him comfort Narcissa.
Lily and Sirius managed to usher her towards the seats and they sat down. Narcissa was trying her best to compose herself. She wasn't the sort of woman who showed her emotions that easily. However, today was an exception. She had lost the last of her siblings and her only child was near death as well.
A few minutes passed with only the sound of Sirius' gentle words echoing in the corridor. At last the door opened and an exhausted Healer walked out. Narcissa shot out of her chair and raced towards him. Everyone rose out of their seats as well and eyed the Healer, each praying that he had good news.
"Healer Roberts!" Narcissa called out as she rushed towards the grey haired Healer. "My son! Is my son okay?" she asked with desperation in her voice.
The Healer looked at her with a solemn expression, making everyone hold their breaths.
"Mrs Malfoy?" he enquired. At her nod he continued. "We have done everything we could for your son. He has a punctured lung due to the stab wound and has lost quite a lot of blood. His other injuries weren't as life threatening but still weakened him. We have repaired his lung as best we could but…" he faltered here and took a good look at the distressed woman. He took her hand into his before going on. "I'm sorry; your son has slipped into a coma. His chances for a full recovery are not good. I'm sorry to tell you this but there is a good chance he may never recover from the coma. I'm sorry." He said as Narcissa started shaking her head at his last words and tears cascaded down her face.
"No, no, Healer Roberts! No, this can't…you have to do something. Please, save my son." she cried. "Draco! He's…he's all I have left, please!" she begged.
"I'm really sorry. We will do our best but I have to be honest with you. There is no point in giving you false hopes." The Healer said with remorse.
Narcissa dissolved into tears and was beside herself with grief. She was going to lose the only family she had left. Her child, her only son was dying and there was nothing anyone could do.
Sirius was once again, at her side and this time even Tonks put family rivalry aside and approached her aunt. Both members of the family held onto Narcissa and let the poor woman cry. Remus and Dumbledore were talking to the Healer, obviously discussing other possible treatments.
James and Lily looked away from the distraught mother to see Harry still standing where he was. James saw the fear in Harry's eyes as he stood transfixed. His eyes were locked on the Healer but he wasn't really looking at him. He was reliving what the Healer had just told them. James could clearly see the desperation in Harry to prove the Healer wrong. To be able to do something, anything that could save his friend's life. Unfortunately, there are some things that cannot be controlled by magic and it was at this realisation that Harry lost his inner battle. He suddenly turned around and fled.
James took one step behind Harry but was stopped by Lily.
"Let him go. This is how he deals." Lily said in a sad voice.
James listened to his wife and let Harry leave the hospital. He could only imagine how he was feeling.
xxx
Things stayed the same over the next week. Draco was still in a coma and there were no changes in his condition. His repaired lung was showing no signs of healing. As a result of this he was being kept alive my magical means.
Narcissa was taken in by Sirius as she was still homeless and couldn't face staying in the Black Manor as that was where her brother had been brutally murdered and her son attacked. She was already a member of the Order so it posed no problem for her to stay at 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry was now desperate to find the Dark Prince impostor. He couldn't rest, couldn't eat or sleep. The image of Draco falling with the horrid knife sticking out of his back was swimming before his eyes, driving him insane.
He was so desperate she didn't argue against Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Damien joining in his research. The other three met at Potter Manor early in the mornings and stayed till past dinnertime and looked up as much information as they could on the escaped Death Eaters.
Hermione had managed to take copies of the old Daily Prophets to study in more depth. Harry had Sirius and Remus look out information on the escaped Death Eaters. The search for the Metamorphmagus' was forgotten. Instead they focused on the files prepared by Hermione and looked for all information the Ministry had on the escaped Death Eaters whose initials were C.B. Even James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Tonks helped out in the research when they could.
It was one such afternoon and the whole gang was crowded around the table, files and parchments lying all over the large table. Everything from newspaper clippings to official Ministry files, to handwritten notes were laying scattered around the table.
"I don't get it." sighed Ron, scratching the side of his head. "I've been looking for more information on this Death Eater but I can't seem to find anything."
Harry looked up from his notes on a Carl Bjorn and saw the scribble on Ron's notebook. Cole Bailey. Harry had noticed this as well. Every other Death Eater on Hermione's list had a full history that was being carefully pieced together by Harry and the others. It was the only way they could work out who the likely culprit was. But this mysterious Cole Bailey didn't have much on him.
"Run through what you've got on him so far." James said as he put down his notes on a Death Eater named Caleb Bradford.
Ron started reading out what he had managed to find.
"Well, he was arrested during a raid about ten years ago. He was imprisoned for life in Azkaban and was one of the last Death Eaters to escape." Ron looked up at the faces watching him.
"And?" Tonks prompted.
"And that's it." Ron answered.
"What?" Hermione shrieked, making a grab at Ron's notebook. She scanned over his messy writing and looked back at him. "That's it! That's all you've found out!" she said in an accusatory voice.
"Hermione! It's not like I decided that is all the information we were to have on him! This is all that is available." He gestured to the newspapers lying before him.
Harry turned to Remus.
"Does Bailey not have a Ministry file?" he asked.
Remus shook his head.
"I can't recall it. If he does it will be here somewhere." He said, sifting through the files.
"It's not here. I've already checked." Ron supplied.
"Surely there must be something on him!" Hermione said, reaching over to the pile of paperwork before her and looking through it. "How can it be possible that a Death Eater that has been arrested doesn't have a portfolio?"
"She's right." Sirius said. "The Ministry would make up some record of the Death Eater's crimes to present at the trial."
"Why don't you and Remus have another look for this Cole Bailey? Maybe you missed him." Lily suggested.
Remus looked like he was insulted at the assumption that he had overlooked something as important as this. However, he answered in his usual polite way.
"Sure, I'll have another look."
"Meanwhile, we keep on working with the others. Ron, put that one aside. No one stops until we have all the histories of these Death Eaters." Harry ordered.
No one objected and went back to their researching.
But everyone had stopped their researching for one day. The day of the funeral for Marco Black. Harry had at first decided not to go to the funeral but then changed his mind. Not so much for Marco, he knew Marco didn't really like him. No, Harry wanted to go for Narcissa. He knew it would mean a lot to her and he felt a strange desire to be there for her. She was Draco's mum and Harry knew how much Draco secretly loved her. Harry knew that a part of his decision was based on the knowledge that Narcissa had been there for him when he was growing up. He couldn't remember it as those memories were taken from him but that didn't mean it never happened.
It turned out that a lot of people turned up at Marco's funeral. The whole Order was there, Dumbledore included, as were a few other important people in the wizarding community. It was a saddening experience as Narcissa was inconsolable. Sirius and Tonks were at her side and never left her even for a moment. Narcissa had to be taken back to the Headquarters as she was clearly not able to cope with the funeral. Sirius and Remus left with her while Tonks and her father were left to represent the Black family. Ironic as it was, it was something that had to be done.
xxx
Harry was glad to get back home. He walked through the front door and headed straight for the living room. He was tired, too tired to do any researching today. The funeral had taken a lot out of him, more than he had expected. He found himself wondering that if the funeral of a person that he didn't particularly care about could take so much out of him then what would it feel like if he had to attend the funeral of someone he really cared about? His thoughts raced back to Bella and what he felt at the time she was buried. Bella's funeral was the first funeral he had ever attended. He couldn't really remember that day. It felt like a heavy fog clouded around that memory. He was in shock for the most part of that day. His memories of that day were scattered and he couldn't bring himself to think about it.
His parents walked into the living room in silence. Lily headed straight to the kitchen to make all of them a much needed cup of tea. James was just about to sit opposite Harry when the phone rang, making him jump. Harry looked over at the muggle phone with disdained interest. He wondered what his muggle aunt wanted from his mum.
"Lily!" James yelled.
"Answer it, please James!" came the reply from the kitchen.
With a suppressed moan, James moved over to answer the phone. Honestly, there was no reason why he should have to answer the phone. It was obviously Petunia calling to speak to Lily for whatever reason.
With a scowl on his face, James picked up the receiver and answered in his usual manner.
"Hello, Potter residence."
Harry watched as James' expression changed to surprise. It was clear that he was thrown by the caller. His eyes travelled to Harry and rested on him.
"Can I ask whose calling?" his tone was polite but demanding and Harry found himself sit upright.
James' question was obviously not answered as a frown appeared on his face before he bit out harshly.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to tell me who you are first!"
Lily had walked back into the living room and stood watching James as well. Harry was noting the look of growing fury on James' face.
"Who is this!?" he asked again.
Harry stood up and walked over to his dad. He knew who it was. It was clear from James' look of panic and anger. The way he had looked at Harry was enough to suggest that the caller was asking to speak to him. Harry knew who it was and he knew that James knew it too. He was only asking in a bid to see if he was right or what response the caller would give.
Harry reached out to take the receiver from James. At first James hesitated but seeing the look on Harry's face, he handed it to him. Harry brought it to his ear, his eyes already burning in rage.
"Talk!" he hissed at him.
A low chuckle was heard on the other end, fuelling Harry's anger.
"Still have that habit of giving out orders. I guess some things never do change."
Harry stilled as the voice of the impostor rang in his head. The familiarity of it hit Harry hard but yet again, he was lost as to why it was familiar.
"I've not changed at all. If you know me you would have had the sense to not mess with me!" Harry hissed dangerously at him.
Another chuckle and Harry wished he could reach into the phone and pull the impostor out so he could do real damage to him.
"You always were over confident. A quality that I actually liked in you." The last part was said in a voice, Harry could swear, sounded remorseful.
"You do realise that by attacking Draco you have effectively signed your own death certificate!" Harry said through clenched teeth.
This time there was no chuckle. For a moment Harry thought he had hung up. But then his voice came, laced with either anger or regret, or perhaps both.
"It's not something I wanted to do. Don't hold me responsible. You are the only one to blame!"
Harry was surprised at that. He wasn't expecting that as a response.
"Me? You're blaming me for your actions? In what twisted way am I responsible!?" Harry asked.
"It's funny, almost agonizingly humorous, that you can do so much and still claim you're innocent." The voice was enriched with so much hate and pain that it almost took Harry's breath away.
"What have I done?" Harry asked in a voice that betrayed his honest confusion.
"You have forgotten? I guess that shouldn't be surprising. You seem to forget a lot of things. Forgotten the kindness shown to you, forgotten the care you were given, the honour bestowed upon you, the love that was reserved for you and you alone!" the last part was almost shouted out and Harry could hear the quick breaths taken, in an effort to calm down.
"Whatever I had with Voldemort is not your concern." Harry hissed out, his own anger threatening to break out. "Who are you to exact revenge on his behalf?" Harry asked.
"You don't remember me? Well, no matter. I remember you. I want you to know that I spend every moment thinking about you and how to make you pay for what you did!" The malice in his voice faded and what Harry heard next made the hairs on the end of his neck stand. "Can you sleep at night, Prince?"
Harry felt his blood run cold at the question.
"What?" he asked, in a voice that showed his surprise.
"I hope you can't sleep. Just the way I can't. I want you to know what it feels like to stay awake at nights, relieving memories you wished you didn't have. To break every night, to suffer endlessly! You will suffer, Prince. You will pay for your deception and your betrayal!"
Harry took a moment to calm himself. This jerk knew a lot about him. He was probably just saying these things to make him feel weak and vulnerable. He knew that by saying these things, accusing him of these crimes he would hit Harry's weak spot. Harry had faced his demons. He was through the torture of his guilt. He wasn't going to let this bastard make him feel guilty again.
"So why are you hiding from me? If you want me to suffer then why don't you come for me? Why hide? Just tell me where to meet you and I'll be there!" Harry snarled in anger.
Again, the tone changed and the voice was calmer, more collected.
"Don't worry, Prince. I will meet you. I just have one more task to do. One more job and then it's just you and me." His voice dropped to almost a whisper before he asked, "You care very deeply about him, don't you?"
Somehow Harry knew who the impostor was talking about and it sent waves of fiery rage through him. His heart began thumping painfully hard in his chest. Harry found his rage was such he couldn't speak. He was gripping the receiver in his hand so tightly it was hurting him.
"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from him!" Harry forced the words out from between clenched teeth.
"Ah, such sentiments. It's reassuring to know that his death will break you. Then you will know how it feels." The voice hissed back at Harry.
"You must be out of your mind to even think about hurting him!" Harry spat. "The only thing left for you to do is to suffer!" Harry warned dangerously. "Take my advice and run, because the day I find you will be your last!" Harry hissed.
Another low chuckle before the impostor spoke his last words to end the conversation.
"Keep Damien Potter safe if you can, Prince. It's only a matter of time before I get to him."
A click was heard before the line went dead. Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard. His hands were shaking from anger. He felt like his heart was going to beat its way out of his chest.
He put the receiver down and was vaguely aware of James and Lily asking him questions. But Harry couldn't answer them right now. He looked around the living room and noticed that Damien was missing. Where was he? Harry realised that he hadn't seen Damien the entire day. Was he at the funeral? In his panic he couldn't remember if Damien had come with them or not. He didn't remember seeing him. So where was he?
Harry turned to look at his dad, who was looking at Harry with a concerned and scared expression.
"Where's Damien?" Harry asked in a hoarse voice. His heart was bearing so fast it was making him feel sick.
James looked at Harry blankly, confused at the simple question.
"Dad, where's Damien?!" Harry asked his voice louder and more panicked.
"Harry, what's going on?" James asked. "What did he say to you?" he asked referring to the Dark Prince impostor.
But Harry couldn't waste time repeating that horrid conversation. He had to get to Damien first.
"Dad! Where's Damien!?" Harry had literally shouted the question out.
"He's at the Burrow. He's been there since this morning. He left in front of you, don't you remember?" James answered looking quite worriedly at Harry.
Harry suddenly remembered. After breakfast this morning, Damien had flooed over to the Burrow as the rest were going to attend Marco's funeral. He was going to stay with Ron and the rest as Mr and Mrs Weasley were also attending the funeral.
Without another word to his confused and slightly frightened parents Harry apparated to the Burrow. As soon as Harry appeared in the Weasley's kitchen he scanned the small room for his brother. He could still hear the man's voice ring in his head, 'it's only a matter of time before I get to him.' all Harry could focus on was finding Damien and taking him back to Potter Manor, where it was safe.
He spotted Damien through the window. He was in the middle of a Quidditch game with the Weasley boys. Harry rushed outside, ignoring the looks and greetings he got from Bill and Fleur. Harry had just walked into the garden when Ron and Damien spotted him. They signalled to Fred, George, Percy and Ginny that the game was to be paused. Ron and Damien flew to the ground to meet Harry. Ginny was on her way over to meet Harry as well.
As soon as Damien's feet touched the ground he was grabbed by Harry.
"Harry! What-?!" Damien was cut off as he was unceremoniously grabbed and pulled towards the house by Harry.
Ron watched with wide eyes as Harry didn't say a single word to anyone but grabbed Damien and disappeared back into the house.
"Harry! What are you doing?! Let go of me!" Damien yelled, infuriated at being treated like a rag doll. "What happened? What's gotten into you?!" Damien asked, trying to loosen the tight grip on his arm.
Harry didn't answer but continued to drag Damien into the kitchen and towards the fireplace. Harry wasn't being rude and hurtful on purpose. He was panicked and couldn't explain everything to Damien just now. Once he got him home, and cast a few of his own protective spells on him, then he could go over what had happened. He roughly pushed Damien into the fireplace and threw in a handful of floo powder.
"Go home!" he instructed to the confused boy.
"What's happen-?"
"Damy, please, just get home and I'll tell you. Hurry!" Harry pleaded.
Damien didn't put up any further argument and said 'Potter Manor' in a clear voice. He disappeared in a swirl of green flames. Harry apparated back as well, not sparing even a few words of explanation to the confused Weasleys standing at the door.
xxx
Damien mumbled a few choice words under his breath as he was once again thrown to the other side of the room. He picked himself up from the floor and massaged his sore elbow, which he had banged as the force has propelled him through the air.
"Harry!" he growled, as he pulled down the magical shield that had erupted around him, effectively cocooning him inside a protective bubble.
Damien rushed up the stairs to the first floor, clutching his elbow painfully. He walked inside Harry's room to see Harry still sitting at his desk, studying the papers before him.
"Harry!" he yelled as he banged the door closed behind him.
Harry jumped at the sound and swung around to see Damien standing at his door.
"Damy! What's wrong?" he asked alert and ready, his wand already in his hand.
"I applaud that you can even ask me that!" Damien bit out at him. "That bloody spell you put on the main door threw me across the room again!" he explained.
Harry's expression relaxed before going serious again.
"What were you doing next to the door? I told you to stay indoors!" Harry snapped at him.
"I wasn't anywhere near the door! I was heading towards the window, just to have a peek outside and it threw me back into the middle of the room!"
Harry ignored his brother's complaining and turned around to focus on his papers again.
"I cast the same spell as the door on all the windows. It's for your safety, Damy. It won't do you any harm." He said with his back turned.
"I'll have to disagree." Damien snorted, rubbing at his sore elbow.
Damien was sick of this. It had been two weeks since Harry had spoken to the impostor and he had taken the threat made to Damien's life very seriously. Harry had repeated the whole conversation to Damien and his parents and everyone agreed not to take the impostors words lightly. But in saying that, no one had quite imagined the lengths Harry would go to keep Damien safe.
Damien was effectively banned from going outside. He couldn't even go out to his own back garden. He couldn't floo anywhere and wasn't allowed to even stand next to the windows, in case a curse came at him from outside. Harry didn't trust the wards placed around the Manor as he pointed out to James and Lily by his own example at Hogwarts last year. They weren't as reliable as everyone thought.
So Damien was to stay inside the Manor with not even as much freedom as to look outside the window. The main door was charmed, and now so were the windows, to stop Damien from leaving. They enveloped him in a protective shield to keep him safe from any attacks. Damien felt it all was a bit too much. Potter Manor was already heavily warded and had all sorts of protection spells cast on it. It hardly needed anymore. But that wasn't going to stop Harry casting his own, more powerful spells. Damien had even woken up one night to find Harry in his bedroom, casting all sorts of charms and spells in his room to keep him protected.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Harry! What are you doing?" Damien had asked from his bed.
"Just a few spells, for safety." Harry had replied, casting an eerie yellow light around the windows and roof.
Annoyed Damien had retorted.
"Is that really necessary? I mean in my bedroom? It's not like he's under my bed."
Harry had looked at Damien for a moment before levitating the bed, with Damien still in it, to check what was underneath it.
"Put me down!" Damien had yelled.
"Just checking." Was Harry's only response.
Harry was more determined to find this impostor now. His dedication after Draco's attack was nothing compared to the desperation he now showed. He was in his room studying all the time, even through the night. The rest all came during the day and helped with the research but Harry was continuously researching. He still wasn't any closer to finding the culprit though and this frustrated him.
The only time Harry took a break from his researching was when he went to visit Draco. He would go and just sit in silence next to his friend who was still in a coma. There was no improvement in his condition whatsoever. Harry didn't know why he went to visit Draco, it was just something he found himself doing when he got too frustrated with the failed researching. Just by sitting next to Draco, in complete silence gave him what he needed to go back to his search, more determination.
James and Lily were trying their level best to keep things under control. They were just as worried as Harry was over the threat made to Damien's life and so didn't interfere with Harry's 'instructions' to keep Damien inside Potter Manor. They did however feel for their youngest son as he was starting to feel like a prisoner. They were currently sitting in the living room talking amongst themselves about the situation. Damien suddenly stormed into the room and threw himself angrily onto the sofa.
"Damy?" Lily said sternly, not at all impressed with his attitude.
"Mum, I know that Harry is my brother and I love him and everything, but if I get blasted by one of his protective spells one more time, I think I might blast him in return!" Damien said in annoyance.
"It's for your own safety." Lily said, lines of worry now showing on her face.
"Yeah. I'll be safe but sore." He replied, rubbing at his elbow. It wasn't sore anymore but he wanted to hint to his parents that he had hurt himself, again.
James grinned at him and he took off his glasses to clean them.
"Damy, I'm sure you prefer this arrangement to the previous one." He stated, replacing his glasses and looking at the boy for his reaction.
As expected, Damien's face grew red and he mumbled something incoherent under his breath. James chuckled at his reaction. The situation they were in was far from funny but James had found it hard not to laugh at what was happening last week. Before Harry got the idea of placing charms around the Manor to stop Damien from going outside, he had taken to following Damien around everywhere. As much as Damien was close to Harry and wanted to be in his company, he found very soon that constant supervision was very irritating.
James had perhaps made it worse by commenting to Damien that life had a way of bringing things around in a full circle. Damien annoyed Harry last year by following him around in Hogwarts and now Harry was doing the same to him. Damien had just huffed at that and ignored his dad.
The funny thing was that at times Harry didn't even realise he was doing it. He was still clutching a file, reading it while following Damien from one room to another. No matter how many promises Damien made about not leaving the Manor, Harry didn't want to take any chances.
James remembered spotting an annoyed looking Damien stomp his way over towards the bathroom, Harry trailing him, head lowered reading the file in his hands. Harry walked into the bathroom after Damien. James watched as the door opened a mere second later and Harry was flung back out by a truly irate Damien.
"Sorry, sorry." Harry had muttered.
It was after that day that Harry came up with the charms that would stop Damien from leaving the Manor. The only person that could take Damien out of the Manor was Harry himself. That way Harry didn't have to follow Damien around but was secure in the knowledge that Damien couldn't be tricked into leaving the safety of the Manor.
"It's not like I want something to happen to me! I swear I'll stay inside but Harry's acting like I have a death wish or something!" Damien complained.
"Your brother is only looking out for you. He's worried and if casting these spells will give him peace of mind then there's no harm in that." Lily explained as she got up to head to the kitchen.
Harry suddenly called out from the hallway.
"I'm going out! I'll be back in an hour."
"Okay!" James yelled back, glad that Harry had finally grasped onto the idea of telling them when he was going out.
"Rub it in." Damien muttered to himself as he sank back in his sofa chair and stared into space.
xxx
Harry walked out of the elevator and headed towards Draco's private room. He was utterly exhausted and frustrated at the lack of information he had about this impostor. Sirius had suggested looking at Ginny's memory of her attack again to see if he could get anything from it. Since he had spoken to the impostor, viewing the memory of him might trigger something. Harry didn't think it would do him any good but decided to speak to Ginny about it. It was something he didn't particularly want to discuss with her as it made his insides turn to ice but it was needed. She was coming over tomorrow with the rest so he could talk to her about it then.
Just as Harry walked into Draco's room he was greeted with a strange sight. Standing next to Draco's bed was a man, red haired, with a beard. He was dressed in the hospital staff uniform and was holding a chart in his hand. He looked up just as Harry walked in and for a moment he just stared at Harry without speaking.
The only person Harry ever saw with Draco was Narcissa. But today, it was just this stranger in the room. Harry closed the door behind him and just stared at the man. Nothing seemed weird at first glance but Harry had seen the red haired man gently patting Draco's head when he first walked in. The stranger quickly pulled away when he spotted Harry.
Nervously he cleared his throat.
"I was just checking his progress." He said, holding up the chart.
Harry didn't respond but stood where he was, his eyes fixed to the man.
"Right, well, I better get going." The man looked back at Draco and Harry caught the look of grief in his eyes.
He moved past Harry and headed towards the door.
"You should stay." Harry said without turning around to face the man.
The read haired man stopped next to the door, his hand on the door handle.
Harry turned around to face the man. He had recognised who he was instantly. "Now would be a good time to make up for lost time." Harry said icily.
The red haired man turned around in surprise and stared at Harry.
"Wouldn't you agree, Lucius?" Harry added.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I told you guys he would be back! Please let me know what you think?
The identity of the DPi (Dark Prince impostor) will be revealed very soon. Just a little more patience. Your ideas are welcome, by he way. Let me know who you suspect. Just remember this story is AU, bear that in mind when guessing the identity. Don't look at canon too hard as the characters are moulded to suit me and my story's need!!
Okay, review! Cheers!!