I don't own Harry Potter or make any money here, aaarrrrrrgh!
AN: Fact- This thing is getting so convoluted I can't remember what I meant to write. I have to go back and reread whole sections of other chapters just to figure out what the fuck is going on.
And on the eighth day, God made Draco. I want a window decal that says that- an assortment of them that I can switch out according to my mood. Do they already exist somewhere? Does anyone know? Or it could say, "On the eighth day, J.K. made Draco," if you wanted to be really, really sacrilegious.
Moving on. Holy mother-licking crap, people. Thirty chapters. I'm not sure I can feel my eyeballs any longer.
Sirius hid his surprise at seeing Hermione and Draco rather well, for all the coughing and sputtering he did at first. He stood up from his desk and strode towards them, stopping a few feet away, arms akimbo, and looked from one to the other several times before settling on Hermione.
"Love, this isn't the grocer's. You can't just return some bad fruit whenever you li- oof!"
Draco looked at Hermione's extended hand, the finger prodding Sirius' stomach, with approval.
"We're not here for a return, as you so tastefully put it. We're here because I just apparated us here and I don't have the energy to get us where we really need to be."
"And where is that?" Sirius asked, before his eyes went wide. "Wait, you apparated?"
"That's what I just said," Hermione replied. She was looking a little less green and more pale, but Draco couldn't tell if that was the lighting, or not. He moved closer anyway, in case her knees decided to give out again.
"Hermione, love-"
"I'm not your love, Sirius," she said, prodding him again and he moved back, held his hands up.
"Prickly today, are we?"
"I'm prickly everyday. Now, we're trying to get to Ginny's."
"Ah, is this a house party?" he asked, winking at her cheekily, with a nod in Draco's direction. Draco wrinkled his nose at the same time Hermione did.
"We're just…visiting," she said.
"I'm sure. And this casual visit is so important that you had to apparate after years of swearing off magic-'
"Look, can you help us get there or not, you overgrown, mangy dog?" Draco finally broke in. "What Hermione does with me is no longer your bloody concern- if it was ever a concern of yours to begin with- and we're in a hurry. So why don't you just shut it and let the lady speak instead of continuing with your endless store of lewd remarks and innuendo. She doesn't need it, alright, and it's fucking insulting to all three of us, quite honestly."
Sirius gaped at him and he could feel Hermione's serious eyes watching his face as he glared at the other man, but he didn't give an inch. He held his breath, waiting for a reprimand, a verbal attack, anything. But then Sirius smiled broadly and clapped his hands together.
"Oh, ho, well done, young Mister Malfoy. Well done, indeed. Alright, then," he said, putting his hands on his hips again and facing Hermione once more. "What do you need?"
Hermione managed not to gape at either of them and crossed her arms. "Money for tube fare," she said promptly and Sirius shook his head.
"I can do you one better. I have a cycle out front. Here," he said, going back to his desk and scavenging about. "Take the keys," he added, tossing a ring of shiny objects to them.
Hermione caught them neatly and looked at the set of keys rather dubiously.
"Sirius, you know I don't like flying-"
"It's only enchanted to fly for me," he said patiently. "Had one too many accidents with me girlfriends and curious passerbys trying it out."
"Dating muggle girls?" Hermione asked curiously, still inspecting the keys.
"A few. But even witches have a hard time handling it," he said, winking. "If you know what I mean."
Hermione pulled a face at him, but he lifted his hands and shooed them.
"Go on, then. You have someplace to be. Don't let me stop you."
"Well…thanks, Sirius."
He made a magnanimous gesture. "Of course. See, I'm not so bad, am I?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned, motioning at Draco to follow her and then walked down the stairs. Sirius jogged after them, pausing at the door to pull a couple things from the hall closet.
"Oh, and you'll want these- some helmets," he offered. "Normally I go without, you know me, daring and whatnot- but I assume you also haven't ridden one of these in quite sometime."
Hermione and Draco accepted their helmets and stepped outside. Hermione turned to Sirius one last time and gave him a cheerful smile.
"Actually, I've never ridden one, let alone driven. But as you can't take us-"
"Don't!" Sirius replied, one hand over his heart. "Don't say another word! Just…take the keys and go. And leave it at Ginny's when you're done. For heaven's sake, don't try and take it anywhere else, please."
Hermione smirked at him- smirked! And then she and Draco were out the door, Sirius giving the motorcycle parked at the curb one last, wistful glance, before the heavy door shut firmly behind them.
Draco paused before getting on behind Hermione, who, for her part, had swung a leg over and kicked the stand quite expertly for all that she'd never ridden one before. She had to keep on her tiptoes, though, to balance it.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked quietly as he adjusted the helmet on his head. Hermione peered up at him and gave him a small smile.
"It's our best option so far."
"Your headache-"
"Ginny," Hermione said firmly in response. "Now get on." Then she flipped the visor down and started the cycle, revving the engine experimentally a few times.
Draco took a deep breath, flipped his own visor down, and slid one long leg over the seat, settling into the space behind her.
"Put your arms about me!" she yelled back. "I don't want you falling off, god forbid."
He froze and stared at her back. Hell. Fucking, bloody hell. Think of Ginny, a voice in his still pounding head told him. Think of how Hermione must feel about all this. His arms finally went about her waist and he held them there loosely, trying not to let his chest touch her back.
"Tighter, Draco," she said. "If you break your bloody neck-"
He tightened them, felt her own sharp intake of breath, the adjustment to the situation they were both making; and then the motorcycle took off from the curb, shooting out into traffic; leaving his heart on the pavement behind them, he was certain.
By the time the motorcycle skidded to a stop outside the remodeled town home that housed Ginny's flat, Draco was sure he'd lost several other organs along the way, and perhaps a few limbs. Hermione squirmed in front of him, kicking the stand down and removing her helmet, setting her hair free. She made a displeased noise.
"Draco, you can stop hanging on for dear life now. We've stopped," she pointed out, then began pushing at his arms.
"Huh?" he asked through the helmet and she managed to turn her head and frown at him.
"Draco!" She knocked on the visor a couple times and he finally jerked his head back, pulled his arms away. Unbalanced, he toppled off the cycle and landed in a heap on the sidewalk. Hermione got off the bike with a little more dignity and knelt beside him. She gingerly removed his helmet for him and peered down at his face.
"Are you ok?"
"Will be, I think," he wheezed and put a hand to his chest, then laid his head back down. "Just have to catch my breath."
"Dear god, were you holding it this whole time?" she asked.
"Not…the whole time," he admitted. Hermione pursed her lips and shook her head, then stood up and held a hand out to him.
"Come on. I have to get up there and you have to come with me. Come on, up," she commanded. He took her hand and managed to pull himself to his feet as well, though he staggered some.
"You," he said, "are a terrible driver."
"I am, aren't I?" she replied with a rueful look at the cycle. "But I never get caught. Must be the witchy part of me."
"Must be," Draco responded, though he rather thought it was simply because no police officer in his right mind would want to get anywhere near her vehicle while she was actually driving it.
They took the stairs up two at a time, though Hermione was looking green again by the time they reached the top, and Draco put a steadying hand on her shoulder as they approached the door that was partially open.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat and she reached a hand up to Draco's, catching hold of it, and turned to look at him with wide eyes. His own face was grim and fearful and he moved ahead of her, cautiously pushing at the door some more. When it wouldn't budge, he put his shoulder to it and eased it open a few more inches. Hermione slipped in past him, Ginny's name on her lips.
From his place on the floor, Harry whirled about, wand out.
"Freeze!" he cried and Draco and Hermione obeyed. Harry relaxed as he saw who it was, though the arm that was still about Ginny tightened some; and Hermione rushed forward as Draco surveyed the damage to the apartment.
"Oh, Ginny," Hermione breathed and fell to her knees beside Harry and her friend. "How is she?" she asked, glancing up at Harry, daring to put a hand on Ginny's back. "What happened here?"
"I think the better question is, where is Zabini?" Draco asked and Harry shook his head.
"He's still here, he must be. My fail-safes kicked in, so I know he's not dead, or far from here."
"Ginny, what did you do?" Hermione asked the other woman gently and Ginny gave a shuddering sigh and finally turned her head, though her arms remained about Harry.
"I…I tried to kill him," she said hoarsely. "I wanted to kill him. The wards, I started to take them off and I cast-" She shook her head and burrowed back against Harry, shivering at the memory. "He was too fast for me, the bastard," she whispered. "Made it to his room just in time, or we'd both be in a lot more trouble."
"But your furniture-"
"That was me," Ginny sighed. "That was all me. I'm just…so tired…"
Harry looked from her to Hermione, his jaw set in anger.
"Would either of you like to let me know what's going on now?" he asked and Hermione gave him a scared glance, then tugged Ginny away from him and into her own arms.
"Go get us some water, and a rag," she murmured. Harry looked like he was ready to blow up some furniture, himself, and Draco waved a hand.
"I'll get it," he said and poked his head in a couple of open doors, searching for the kitchen. Finding it, he disappeared from sight.
Harry watched him go and turned back to Hermione. "Alright," he said. "Talk. I spoke with Lucius on the phone earlier and I know he was telling you all something that must have set her off."
Hermione nodded. "He was. We found out last week, when he woke up- rather, he said some things that made us think he knew something about…well, about it all. So today, when Ginny came over, we asked him to tell us what he knew."
Harry frowned. "Hermione, I told you I had one condition, and that was to let me question him if he presented any knowledge, or information, about anything. And now you're telling me that he did, that same day, and you didn't call me, first thing?"
Hermione gave him a sharp glance and he caught his breath.
"Like you've never kept secrets from us, Harry James Potter," she hissed. "And for your information I did want to tell you. But I couldn't say anything without bringing up Zabini, too, and Ginny didn't want to do that yet. She wasn't ready. It was too hard for both of us," she added. "It was too fucking much. We had to let it sink in, think about it some. Imagine, Harry," she went on, "if after all this time you found out something about your parents, or…Dumbledore. And you knew you needed to tell someone what you'd found out, even if it was going to hurt a lot of people. What would you have done? Would you say something right away? Just jump into things?"
Harry sat back. "It's not the same-"
"Of course it isn't the same!" Hermione cried. "I'm just trying to make you see, make you understand. There's a lot at stake, here. And anyway, you know now. You can question Lucius anytime you like," she ended, her tone belligerent. Harry decided not to push her.
"Alright, Hermione. You're right. It doesn't change the fact I wish you'd come to me sooner, but alright."
Draco reappeared with a glass of water in one hand and damp rag in the other. He handed them down to Hermione, who took them thankfully and prodded Ginny to sit up. The two men watched Ginny drink the water as Hermione wiped at her face; and finally the red-haired witch put the glass down and took the rag from Hermione, giving a deep sigh and closing her eyes.
"Thank you," she murmured. When she opened her eyes again, she found they were all watching her steadily, though Harry kept casting small glares at Hermione; and Draco was casting the same glares at Harry for looking at Hermione that way to begin with.
"What now?" she asked, voice still raspy.
"Well, if you think you can keep yourself from attacking Zabini again, it's time we heard from him," Harry said, trying to keep his voice light.
"I don't know," Ginny replied. "I think you'd better hold my wand." Then she turned her eyes to Hermione.
"And how did you get here so quickly, anyway?"
Hermione pressed her lips together. "Apparated," she said shortly. Both Ginny and Harry gasped.
"Yes, and we have splitting headaches for it, too," Draco added snarkily. "Now can we get on with this? For Merlin's sake, she is a witch, after all."
"But you're in one piece-" Harry began and Draco cut him off.
"Yes, well, she's still the fucking brightest witch of her bloody age, I reckon," he snapped and Hermione threw him an amused, but grateful glance; well aware he had no idea he'd just voiced her own thoughts from two weeks ago.
"Look," Hermione began, "go get Zabini, Harry, and let's get this over with. You can come out to the farm with us afterward and speak to Lucius about the rest of it."
"Alright," Harry replied. He stood and made his way to Zabini's room, leaving the women huddled on the floor, and Draco leaning against a nearby wall.
The three of them heard sound of a struggle, then a finite incantatem, followed by the howls of rage from Zabini. Harry appeared a few seconds later, hauling Zabini along by his shirt collar, wand trained on the captive wizard.
"Let go of me!" Blaise was snarling and Harry shook his head.
"Sorry, Zabini. You and I both know that's not going to happen. Now tell us whatever the hell it is you know."
Blaise looked at the three expectant faces before him and paled.
"You won't like it," he whispered, all life suddenly gone out of him.
"Just like we didn't like the mindless torture and rape?" Ginny shot back, although her voice sounded a bit dead to everyone's ears. She rubbed her face. "I'm so fucking tired of all of it, Zabini. Just tell us the truth and make it quick."
Blaise swallowed hard and Harry gave him a little shake.
"It's either tell us here, now, or I take you back to the ministry and do it there by forcing Veritaserum down your throat until you choke on it," he said quite calmly.
"Ok, I will! Just-" He stopped again, looked at Hermione, at Draco. His once acquaintance and ally didn't blink, just stared at him with a bored expression on his face. "Malfoy," he began and Draco glanced away, inspected his nails.
"Better start at the beginning, Zabini," he said. "You know, the part where you came to see my family and found these two with those Death Eaters? Or perhaps," he added when Zabini blanched, "you'd like to begin with how they Imperioused you into bringing them food from our kitchens and you did it for two weeks straight while these two continued to suffer? Or maybe, just maybe, it would be best to tell Potter, here, how you betrayed my parents when they finally found out about it and launched a rescue mission." He paused and glanced up at Blaise to find the other man glaring at him hatefully.
"No?" Draco said. "Oh, terribly sorry. I guess you wanted to tell that part, yourself. Please, be my guest," he added with a malicious little sneer.
"I wanted to help!" Zabini finally cried. "I did! But when I got there, the others, they could tell something was wrong. I was too nervous, too jumpy. They finally ordered me to talk to them and what could I do? I'd been fucking Imperioused, which was humiliating enough, by the way. So I told them and the battle started."
"Yes, and you saved your own skin!" Draco shouted back. "You left these two there to rot, and my parents to die and ran away like the fucking coward you are! You bested my own cowardice, you bloody moron!"
Hermione felt like she, Harry, and Ginny may as well not even be in the room, the two men were so focused on one another. She looked up at Draco with pity in her eyes and wanted to help him, make his anger at this fresh hurt better, but knew she couldn't do a damn thing.
One never could, in the face of so much sorrow.
"I went back," Blaise said, struggling against Harry suddenly, trying to get closer to Draco; as if that would make the other wizard more sympathetic, somehow. "I went back, after the fighting was over. I'm the one who took your father and mother back to your grounds. I saw Narcissa was dead, knew I couldn't do anything about that. But your father was still alive, so I levitated them both back to your property, tried to bury your mum-"
"You call that a burial?" Hermione suddenly broke in, unable to keep silent. "A shallow grave in her own woods, covered in leaves and rocks with no one to even mourn over her? And you just left Lucius there, catatonic? You bloody-"
"Yeah, alright?" Blaise yelled at her. "I know, ok? I know I was a fucking wanker, and coward, and every other sort of scum! But I had to think of myself, didn't I? My mother was on trial, too. And I knew I was next, and if anyone had found them anywhere near that cottage, especially when I'd just been visiting- I couldn't take the chance that I'd be associated with it. It would have made things so much worse-"
"But you were associated with it!" Hermione screamed at him, leaping to her feet. "The rest was just you covering your tracks so you wouldn't go down for something you didn't care about-" She turned to Harry. "You see?" she cried. "You see why neither Ginny or I wanted to deal with this? Oh, god-" She turned and stormed from the ruined apartment and Draco cast one last glance at Blaise and Harry, then followed her.
Harry gave Zabini a good shake and then threw him to the floor, wand still trained upon him.
"Tell me the rest," he said in a low voice. "Everything you know."
"That's it, I swear!" Blaise exclaimed. "After I moved the Malfoys I left. I went to London, got a hotel, went to my mother's trial."
"And just left the three of us to rot," Ginny added bitterly.
"I'm sorry for that," Blaise said suddenly, turning to her with a fierce expression. "I don't like you and I never have, but I'm sorry for that."
"Sorry?" Ginny said, incredulous. "I hope you're more than sorry. I hope you feel fucking guilty for the rest of your bleeding life."
"I went back," he shot back at her, then covered his mouth suddenly as Harry stared at him hard. "I didn't mean-"
"You said that was all you did, that you left and that was it," Harry prompted him. "What else do you know?"
Zabini hung his head, covered his face. "I went back. Merlin help me, but I did. I just kept thinking about what I'd seen those two weeks- I never participated in the torture, I swear, but the things I heard…once I was out from under the Imperious, it ate at me. So I went back after about a week, once Mother's trial was over. You lot were gone by then, but you hadn't arrived at the ministry yet."
"We were traveling that week," Ginny ground out. "Crawling in the mud in our bare feet to get to London." She spat. "And you didn't try to find us?"
He shook his head, looking actually ashamed. "I didn't. I went back to the cottage and when I didn't see you all, I assumed you'd made your escape. The other bodies were still there, inside and I…panicked. I knew you'd gone off to find yourselves help, knew that any day now the aurors would be combing the area looking for the cottage, so I-"
"You torched it," Harry said. "Just burned the whole place down. We found the blackened shell of the place, knew it had burned recently, but any chance we might've had of figuring out exactly what had happened was gone when you did that. You destroyed all the residue, all the fingerprints, all the magical properties." He shook his head disgustedly. "After that, and after all this time, we still don't know exactly who it was, no matter how much speculation, how many missing wizard reports we go over. But now that you're spilling your guts, you may as well tell us."
Zabini lifted his hands. "I don't know," he said, and his voice broke on a high pitched laugh. "I don't fucking know. Is that why you came back here? Why you're questioning me?" The laughter bubbled from his lips. "That's too much, isn't it? Because I just don't bleeding know a damn thing, otherwise. Oh, Merlin-"
Harry's fist connected with his jaw and Zabini went flying back. Ginny reached up, grabbed Harry's arm, and held him back.
"Harry-"
"Let me go, Gin," he said, voice dangerous.
"Harry, it- that doesn't matter now." Her voice was pleading and he turned to look down at her.
"Ginny, how can you say that?"
"Because…even to know this much, it's more than Hermione or I ever thought we'd have."
"You were ready to kill him, too."
"I was," she admitted, swallowing, and looked back at Blaise. Lord, she was so tired. "I still want to. But if he really doesn't know…there's nothing we can do about that. Those men, I believe they'd never reveal themselves to an outsider. They were too feral, too mistrusting. Too hateful," she finished softly, and tugged at his arm again. "Please, Harry."
Harry looked at her face for a long moment, then back at Zabini, who cowered on the floor. He swore and finally dropped his stance, turning to Ginny and embracing her tightly.
"Ok," he murmured against her hair. "What would you have me do, then?"
"Hermione should be here," she replied. "She should help decide."
"You're right," Harry allowed and then he sighed and let go of Ginny. "I'll go fetch her, see where they got off to. Will you be alright?"
Ginny shrugged. "I won't murder him while you're gone."
Harry snorted, knowing the fail-safes were still in place, and looked at Zabini briefly. "I almost wish you would," he said spitefully before he picked his way over the bits of furniture and out the door.
Ginny turned to Zabini and stared at him warily. He finally lifted his head and returned her look.
"What?"
"He's right," Ginny said. "I do want to kill you, or let him do it. But it wouldn't do any good. It's not going to help me regain my sanity, or my life. If that hasn't happened after all this time, nothing will help," she added bitterly. "And nothing will ever bring my brother back," she finished.
Zabini glanced up at her and his eyes remained on her face for a long second before he exhaled and slid his gaze away, attempting to sit up and rubbing at his jaw. Ginny froze and all the tendons on her neck stood out suddenly as her body tensed under the force of a realization.
"You do know something," she whispered, still unable to move.
Zabini didn't look up at her. "I already said, I don't know anything. I have no idea who those men were-"
"No," Ginny said, cutting him off, her motions stilted as she walked over to him slowly and stood over him. "That's not what I meant."
His eyes ran up her length until he reached her face again and their gazes locked. He licked his lips.
"I don't-"
"About Ron," Ginny continued, the set of her face brooking no argument. "You know something else about my brother."
He didn't answer, frozen under her stare even as she slowly lowered herself to crouch at his eyelevel.
"Tell me what it is," she said.
He tried to speak, really, he did, but his mouth wouldn't move, had gone dry anyway. He licked his lips again, tried to crawl backwards from her. One of her hands shot out and grabbed his shirt front, hauled him back towards her.
He hadn't realized she was so strong. Then again, she was furious with him. That must be part of it, he reasoned.
She gave him one more chance.
"Tell me what you know," she said again and unable to avoid her any longer, he lifted his eyes to hers, and Merlin help him, he told.
AN: Oh, hell, I may have lied again. Looks like there's one more chapter to this bit. But come on. How many words long is this? Deal with it, people.