Thank you for reading and commenting again, everyone! For those of you who were concerned about Lee and Colin's state of preservation, they were injured in the battle and then died some days later at the flat where they were hiding with George and Oliver. We are still only a week after the battle, time-wise.
Malfoy Manor
Outside the main ballroom of Malfoy Manor they both donned their masks, assumed the perfect pureblood posture that had been drilled into them since childhood and marched in, Draco leading slightly. In perfect sync, they dropped to their knees before the throne-like chair that graced one end of the room and lowered their eyes.
"My Lord, we have news," Draco murmured deferentially.
"Do tell!"
"We found four of the traitors hiding in the flat above the Weasley's shop. They are all dead. Two of them are here," he nodded to Theo, who tipped to two heads out of their container. The Dark Lord looked delighted. "And the other two burned with the shop. One of the blood-traitor twins and Wood, who used to be the Gryffindor Quidditch captian." There was a whimper from the cage beside the throne which drew the Dark Lord's attention immediately. He flicked his wand, casting a crucio on the crouched prisoner while leaning forward to inspect the severed heads.
"Very good! Keep it up, keep it up!" Both boys tried to smile while ignoring Weasley's screams of pain until someone else came in. Hearing footsteps enter behind them, Theo quickly vanished the heads and they left together, apparating back to Theo's home as soon as they were beyond the wards.
There they were met by a wave of tense silence that seemed to fill the library from wall to wall. George Weasley looked furious, sandwiched as he was between his sister and girlfriend. Hannah and Susan had their arms around each other, both showing traces of recent tears on their cheeks, and Oliver was looking confused and being hastily lectured by Hermione, who spun around as the two men re-joined them.
"Well, this is cosy," Draco said dryly, before finding George Weasley's wand at his throat. George, to his credit, ignored this and addressed his girlfriend in desperation.
"Give me one reason to trust him, Katie. Just one! He tried to fucking kill you! He would have killed us all, and now you're hand in glove with him? Someone tell me why!?"
"Because we haven't got a choice," Hermione said firmly, as Katie moved to block Oliver from going to help and Ginny tried to haul her brother off Draco. "Theo and Draco saved Ginny and I from the battle, George, and they haven't touched us – any of us. Draco has plans – good plans that might actually work! We're going to re-group and we're going to win, this time. You were just in the first place we tried; we both know that there will be more Order members out there. And we need you and Fred. Theo's going to let you use his lab downstairs to start producing things for us to use. Please, George!"
"Fuck this," Theo said into the sudden silence that followed her plea. "Anyone who is not happy here had better be out my fucking house and obliviated beyond repair by the time I get back downstairs. Don't know why I'm risking my fucking life for a bunch of idiot Gryffindors and a pair of useless Hufflepuffs." He threw the bag he'd been carrying into a corner, where it landed with a distinctly wet noise, and stormed out, Hermione hesitating only a minute before following him as Ginny finally succeeded in pulling George away.
"Is that… blood?" Hannah asked nervously, peering at the bag. Draco, suddenly too tired to respond, nodded. "Whose?"
"Jordan and Creevey's," he said. George made an angry noise and came at him again, shaking Ginny off, but Draco responded in kind and found himself kneeling on the floor over the prone figure of the older boy, his wand at his temple. "Nott was right," he said firmly. "You can trust us, or not, I really don't fucking care. But you will stay fucking civil or so help me I'll obliviate you now and dump you on the nearest corner. Now, any more questions?"
"Why are you doing this?" George asked. Draco shrugged.
"Because after Potter made a balls-up of the entire thing, the current administration is not exactly to my taste, Weasley, can you understand that? The world is being run by a lunatic camped out in my parents' home, and I'm sure you can understand that I'd like that to change at some point before it results in my death – which, I should add, will be only a matter of time as things currently stand. And if that means I have to ally myself with you lot of reckless imbeciles, then so be it. At least it means you'll have some decent brains and a bit of fucking subtlety on your side! Now what's it to be? Should Katie take you up and find you a room, or would you like me to obliviate you now, because so help me, Weasley, I'm all for it!"
"I'll stay," George said, after a long pause. "I still don't like you, Malfoy."
"I'll make a note to cry over that later. Katie, I'm going home to take off these fucking robes. Don't let them kill Theo while I'm away, will you? Ginny, teach your fucking brother some manners if you can – though I doubt it at this late date." Ginny rounded on George furiously and Katie gave Draco a sarcastic salute as he swept out, his billowing black robes looking very reminiscent of Severus Snape. Hannah turned to the rest.
"So, rooms?"
Meanwhile, Hermione found Theo's Death Eater mask tossed in a corner of the hallway, and his robes lying abandoned half way up the main staircase. As she stopped to gather them up, there was a pop behind her and Miffie appeared.
"Miffie will deal with the nasty things," she said firmly, relieving Hermione of her bundle. "Mistress Her-money will go and help Master Theo, please." Hermione sighed, but agreed and continued up the stairs to the master suite. The door was ajar, and as she entered she could hear noises coming from the bathroom. She knocked and then, when there was no answer, gently pushed open the door to find Theo standing at the sink, blood pouring from his left arm.
"Theo!" she exclaimed, running over and pulling his arm towards her. "What are you doing?" she demanded, casting a healing charm to stop the bleeding. Theo waved a hand towards his wand and the muggle scrubbing brush sitting beside the sink.
"What does it look like?" he asked bitterly. "I've had it, Hermione! I've had enough! I've just had to desecrate the dead bodies of two people I went to school with, put their fucking heads in a bag and drop them at the feet of the Dark Lord! I've got the fucking resistance living in my home, which pretty much makes it a certainty that I'm going to die in fucking agony as soon as He finds out, and all they can do is complain that I'm untrustworthy! Draco and I could have been… could have been anything we wanted in the new order of things, and we're trying to fucking bring it down! We're mad, Hermione! Mad! I don't want to do it anymore! I want to shut myself away with books and tea and a devoted house elf and never speak to anyone again!"
"Theo!" she said sharply, catching hold of his arms. She pulled him down on the bed beside her and put her arms around him. "Theo, shh! It's ok. Calm down." She could feel his muscles tensing and trembling as she hugged him. "It'll be ok, Theo. You're not going to die, and you're not going to turn us in to Riddle. I trust you. We need you. The others… they will learn that, Theo. You and Draco are putting your lives on the line for us, and we all know it." The words poured out of her, desperately trying to help, to soothe the pain that he was feeling.
"I'm a defected Death Eater," he said, his voice trembling. "There are no defected Death Eaters, Hermione! None!"
"I know two," she argued calmly. "And I used to know a third. And despite what everyone else believes, they are – or were - all good men. They must be. Only a good man would have stopped me jumping off the Astronomy tower. Only a good man would have stopped Ginny throwing herself in the lake. You and Draco… we all owe you so damn much, Theo! You saved us, and you're going on saving us every single day that you face down Tom Riddle and lie for us! This," she pulled his reddened arm towards her and ran her fingers over it, "This is not you! You did not choose this! You chose to work with Draco to overthrow this, you chose to open up your home to us and I am so grateful you did, Theo, because without those decisions I would never have got to know you. And now that I do know you, I am so proud to call you my friend."
"Friend?" Theo looked stunned.
"Friend," Hermione repeated firmly. "I like you, Theo. We get on well together, we enjoy the same things, I can talk to you and you follow my jumps from subject to subject, you understand advanced magic and you actually discuss it with me, rather than sneering at me like Draco… and soon, after this whole farce is over, we are going to shut ourselves away and take magical theory to ridiculous heights, and get straight Outstandings on our N.E.W.T.S, and… live our lives the way we want to." She hugged him again, and unlike the night before, he responded quickly, squeezing her tightly.
"Deal," he said, his voice shaky. "In the meantime, now that you've chased off my breakdown, we should go down to the library and put our frankly excellent researching skills to use on that plan you talked about to dump visitors in the broom cupboard. I want that, and then I am desperate for Blaise to come and visit." He grinned at her, the terrified boy lost again under the veneer of confidence, and for a moment she felt sorry that he was forced into the position he was in. But they were all forced into positions they didn't want to be in just now, and there was, she realised, nothing anyone could do about it. Theo's walls had been shored up and he would hold for a while, and that was the important thing. With that in mind, she followed him downstairs to the now deserted library and plunged into research.
Draco returned shortly before dinner and gradually the others joined him, Hermione and Theo in the library. Under the almost tangible weight of Ginny's glare, George approached them with his hand out.
"Malfoy, Nott," he began, his eyes flicking to his scowling sister and back again. "Thank you. And thank you for saving Ginny and Katie too, I… I thought they were both dead, and I'm struggling to realise they're not. My entire family are in your debt for saving our sister, and I am doubly so on Katie's behalf. Please accept my apologies for any… unpleasantness earlier today." Draco raised his eyebrows.
"Who knew a Weasley genuinely could behave like the pureblood he is?" he asked sarcastically, even as he accepted the other man's hand. Theo followed his lead.
"You will let me know what I can do for the cause?" George asked. Theo nodded, Draco not seeming inclined to reply.
"We have some ideas," Theo replied. "We'll go over them with you tomorrow." They all rose then as Miffie appeared, expecting to move to the dining room, but the elf approached Draco, tugging on her ear nervously.
"Master Draco, there is a man outside," she said quietly. It wasn't quiet enough for the sudden hush that fell in the library. Several of the occupants sat down again, though whether for comfort or out of shock Hermione wasn't sure.
"A man? What sort of a man? Who?" Draco demanded. Miffie closed her eyes and seemed to be concentrating, and then she opened them, looking alarmed.
"I'm sorry, Master Draco, I is not… I is thinking I sees the man but I is seeing this one!" she gestured towards the corner where a very quiet and subdued George Weasley was watching with interest.
"Just like this one?" Hermione asked, leaning forward. Miffie nodded. A series of relieved sighs sounded from around the room.
"Miffie is sorry, she is trying again!" Draco sighed, and kneaded his forehead with his fingers.
"No, Miffie, it's ok. Go and finish preparations for dinner, and lay an extra place at the table. I suppose we should have expected this. Theo, I'll let you handle it, it's your house." Theo didn't even open his eyes from where he was seated beside Hermione, his head resting on the back of the chair.
"Weasley, why the fuck is your twin skulking about outside my house? I swear to Merlin if he tries anything I'll transfigure his balls into breadcrumbs and stake him out for the fucking seagulls."
"How about I just go and get him?" Ginny suggested practically, before another argument could break out. "It's a foregone conclusion that if we leave him out there he'll try and mount a rescue mission to save George from the nasty Death Eaters, and in the interests of not seeing more of Fred than I ever wanted to, that would not appear to be wise." Theo opened one eye lazily.
"Will you promise to make him suffer for delaying our dinner?" A grin reminiscent of Fred himself spread across Ginny's face.
"It would be my pleasure. Anyone want to watch?"
In the end, they all trooped out to the front door and stood around inside the fidelius charm while Ginny walked up to the boundary, took a deep breath and stepped through. Hermione was aware of the subtle shifts around her and realised that everyone was, as she was, ready to hex into oblivion the first person who moved and was not Fred or Ginny Weasley. Ginny, meanwhile, put her hands on her hips and glared around her.
"Frederick Gideon Weasley, if your arse is not directly in front of me in under 10 seconds I am going back inside and I will allow my colleagues to do their worst." Behind Hermione, Theo started counting quietly. He had reached eight when there was a pop, and Fred was standing in the designated spot.
"Ginny?" he asked in disbelief. She gave him a smirk that Hermione could swear she learned from Draco, and pulled her wand.
"What item of mine did you steal when I was ten?"
"Uh-oh," George murmured. His twin seemed to be having similar thoughts.
"Your diary," he admitted, cringing.
"And how did you return it?"
"Covered in 'Ginny loves Harry' graffiti."
"And who did you blame?"
"Ron," Fred said desperately. "I'm sorry, please don't hurt me! Are you convinced it's me yet?" Ginny glared at him.
"You're invited to dinner. During dinner, you'll explain how you found us. Bring him in, Theo!" she added, raising her voice. Theo slipped through the crowd and obliged, ignoring Fred's dumbfounded expression when he saw him appear out of thin air beside Ginny. Mindful of George's reaction earlier in the day, Ginny took the opportunity to silence Fred before he could comment on Draco's presence, and continued to pull her now furious brother behind her as she marched to the dining room.
"Is Master ready for dinner?" Miffie asked, popping into existence.
"Yes, I think so," Draco said, considering. "New Weasley," Fred glared more at this form of address, and stopped the frantic sign language he was trying to employ with his brother and Katie, "Just so you know, you can accept Theo's hospitality and stay here, or you can be obliviated without remorse and dumped outside somewhere. Your brother accepted the first option after a fight. You make your choice now, primarily because I can't be arsed fighting at the dinner table but also because it's bloody rude."
"We need him, Fred. It pains me to say it, but this… whatever this is… is legitimate. It's not a trick, I'm sure of it." George made a face as though the words tasted unpleasant.
"I'll lift the silence, but one word against Draco or Theo and I'll throw you out myself," Ginny said firmly. Fred nodded then, as she lifted the spell, demanded,
"What is this?"
By the time he was up to speed, had decided to stay, and had shown off the prototype Apparition Tracker that he and George had been working on for the Order prior to the final battle, they had all consumed substantial amounts of food and were now investigating Miffie's Butterbeer Ice Cream curiously.
"I think it's time we branched out on the other side with our recruitment, while we plan our next hit," Draco said, changing the subject and drawing the attention of the entire table.
"Where are we going next?" Katie asked curiously.
"I think we'll hit a few more Weasley places, probably unsuccessful ones – so your parent's place, for a start, and isn't the Lovegood house down that way too?"
"Close," Ginny agreed.
"They're probably both empty, but we have to be seen to be checking them, and it's as well to be thorough. And then we'll aim to hit Shell Cottage in a week or so. In the meantime, I think one of us," he looked at Theo "Should tackle Goyle and maybe Pansy, and I think it's about time we discovered where Ministry Weasley's loyalties actually lie."
"What?" George demanded. Ginny sighed.
"Percy took the mark after the battle," she explained. George looked unsurprised, while Fred looked disappointed.
"Percy will do whatever it takes to keep going," George said with a sigh. "I sometimes wonder if he should have been a Slytherin – he's ambitious above all else."
"If he's faking his loyalty to the Dark Lord, he's a braver man than me," Theo said abruptly. Draco and Hermione exchanged a glance.
"Why? You're faking yours." Draco pointed out bluntly. "I think Weasley and I might have a word tomorrow. I can go and stomp around the ministry a bit, talk to some people, behave like a good little Death Eater and drop in on our newest recruit." Fred and George exchanged nervous glances.
"What…. What did he have to do to get marked?" George asked.
"It was a reward for his services to the Dark Lord's Ministry," Draco replied. "Don't worry, we're not all murdering rapists. The Dark Lord allows people to play to their strengths. Theo is one of his chief researchers normally, he's been pulled away from his work for this project tracking down you lot. It was probably in the back of the Dark Lord's mind that it would be more of a punishment for him that way, if he had to actually fight and kill."
"I can kill," Theo muttered, as though Draco was implying this was a character flaw.
"And you?" George asked. Draco shrugged.
"I'm one of the murdering rapists," he admitted, effectively silencing any further conversation. After a few seconds, Hermione snorted.
"Good try," she said calmly. "Miffie told me, on the day of the battle – 'Master Draco is not killing people!'. Your elf knows you." Draco shrugged again.
"OK, I'm not technically, but I'm supposed to be. Might as well play to the part. Tomorrow, I'll play it at the Ministry. I saw my father do it often enough – it's time for me to take up the reins."
She hadn't come. She hadn't come. He needed to pee. The line of moonlight crept further and further across the floor, and the aches in his cramped muscles escalated until he was ready to scream, and had to clench his teeth to stop himself. Waking the manor in the middle of the night was a sure way to collect another crucio. His stomach rumbled violently, making him feel sick. Miserable, he curled up as best he could and tried to sleep. She wasn't coming.