Damnant Quodnon Intelligunt

As the tightness vanished and his feet found solid ground Draco realized he was no longer in the country side. Of course, this place was in London but he feared turning around and seeing a Death Eater or worse, the Dark Lord ready to kill him for betrayal. He figured he should find the place Snape told him about and quickly.

He knew the plans that were to take place after the fall of the ministry and knew London would be targeted by dementors at any moment. It was already dark but the chill in the air was different than that of the one he had felt as he ran out of the manor.

He stepped out into the street and faced the building before him. There was a walk up with the number eleven and another with the number 13. The inside of the homes were dark and silent. In fact the entire street was deserted. He wondered briefly if this had been a trap but then Number 12 Grimmauld Place appeared like it had been there the entire time.

He stepped up quickly before anyone could notice the pale and afraid looking man outside. He entered and was momentarily shocked to find it unlocked. Immediately he thought he had the wrong place. He backed up into the door when his tongue rolled over in his mouth and the dust on the floor rose into the air. It created the rotting image of his late Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and then what Snape had said clicked.

"I couldn't kill you!" He said as best as he could. The dust settled back on the floor and Draco lost his balance with it, falling to his knees. His overall black attire laid under a thick layer of dust, dust that had taken the form of his ex headmaster. It was all more terrifying in person than in Snape's mind. He was panting and clutching his wand like his life depended on it. He knew that was not the real Dumbledore but his mind kept racing back to the night in the North Tower. He kept seeing the old man's body flying through the air. Life and air being knocked out of him in the process. The sky illuminated in green like a sick advertisement.

Draco shook his head violently and used the walls around him to help himself back up to his feet. He needed to get himself together and explore this place. He wondered why a fake Dumbledore would rise from the dust and try to asphyxiate him with his own tongue. He had a feeling he knew but he needed to move and be sure of it.

It only took him a few shaky steps to confirm he was in a wizards house and on the third floor, the room furthest away from the staircase he realized he was in fact in the Black house. The lineage tree spread across an entire wall. Here and there were burn marks over the names of Sirius Black and his aunt Nymphadora Tonks along with others. He was on this tree as well, an unwelcome surprise. He never thought of himself as part of this family.

His gut told him this place had been used by the Order. Perhaps the fake Dumbledore was an alarm that triggered a message for them. He felt very claustrophobic suddenly. What if someone from the Order found him instead and killed him on the spot before he had a chance to switch alliances? He could see it happening so clearly it made his chest constrain. But it was impossible. The majority of the Order of the Phoenix had congregated at the Weasley's boy wedding. And he had been here long enough. If anyone was going to show up, they would have done so already.

He made his way to the second floor and found most of the rooms to be empty and tousled like someone had broken in. He closed the doors back when he was finished going through them. He was looking inside one of the rooms when he heard a crash, some whispers and a scream.

"We didn't kill you!" Draco took out his wand and held it at the ready. He would know that voice anywhere. Half of him was relieved but the other half, the half that had spent the majority of his life hating Potter made his skin crawl. He still had the gashes from Potter's spell on his skin and occasionally had nightmares of bleeding out.

He descended the stairs slowly but then his wand shook violently and there was another scream.

"Harry someone is here!" Hermione Granger yelled.

Draco continued to descend and prepared to be blasted off of his feet but no curse came. He could see their expressions of shock written clearly on their faces. They were dressed in normal muggle clothing, they looked like they had come from casually lounging in the common room instead of a wedding. The only indication that they had been slightly roughed up was Hermione Granger's tousled hair. It was crazier than normal.

"I don't want to fight," Draco broke the silence but immediately the room was filled with red and white and he was on the floor clutching his wand with all of his might. Somewhere there was a rude woman yelling profanities at them and still he sought cover from stuns that the trio were sending his way.

"Protego!" He managed to yell and all fire ceased but the woman continued to yell about mudbloods tainting the pure and noble house of Black.

He heard the heavy panting of the Granger girl who was closest to him, "Harry we have to go it's not safe with him here. They'll know where we are."

"No!" Draco yelled. He had to do something, show them that he wasn't a danger. He held up his wand in the air and then threw it at them. The wall the Protego charm had created vanished and his wand landed perfectly at Harry Potter's feet.

Potter looked at his friends in confusion and then back at him. He never lowered his wand though. Draco knew a million things were racing through his mind.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" Harry spat. He was moving forward, he kicked Draco's wand somewhere near Ron Weasley but Draco didn't move an inch.

"I've come to offer you my alliance," Draco said and he could hear how it sounded like. Not nearly as truthful as he wanted it too. But this was Harry Potter and he had never talked to him like this before except for the first time they had met. He knew nothing else. He hated him with all of his being but it was this or leaving only to die a slow painful death for being a traitor. He would die trying to be a decent human being instead of a coward.

"Bullshit!" Harry yelled over the woman still making noise. They all ignored her. "Who told you about this place?" He asked.

"Snape. Snape told me yesterday." He didn't see how saying his name would help his case.

"Harry we have to go, if Snape told him he told others. They'll be here any minute-"

"No," Draco pleaded again. "He didn't tell anyone else, only me. I don't know why but he knew I wanted to make things right. Please believe me." Draco had never begged once in his life. It tasted like bile in his mouth.

Harry's wand faltered in height, "Why?"

"Because I can't pretend I'm like them, like the Death Eaters I left behind today. You were there weren't you Potter? That night?" His voice had gone hoarse. He hadn't talked to anyone about that night aside from admitting he had failed.

There was silence and Draco knew he had been right. When he and the others left the North Tower Potter had followed them and he had shouted things at Snape. He had known because he had seen.

"I didn't want to do it Potter, I swear I didn't. But he threatened my parents, the only people in the world who care about me. Me," Draco laughed, "a silly boy who cares about stupid things like blood lines and money. I had too."

"I don't believe him," the Weasley boy said standing next to Potter holding Draco's wand. "Pettigrew said the same thing Harry. Let's just take his wand and leave him here. We don't need this." Potter didn't move an inch though.

Harry had been there, listened to the fear in Draco's voice that night. He had almost agreed to accept Dumbledore's help but the rest of his friends had barged in. Then he had just stood by and watched as Albus Dumbledore was killed. The wizard who killed him, taken away the man with all the answers had told him where to find Harry. Why? So Malfoy could finish him off? But then why throw his wand at him? It made no sense.

"Search him," Harry said to Ron. "See if he has any other weapons. If you move Malfoy I'll stun you so hard you won't remember your name."

Ron looked at Harry incredulously but he did as he was told.

"There's a knife in my left pocket," Draco said, he had to be as honest as he could be, "if you cut yourself on the blade you'll die from poisoning."

Ron looked back at Harry and Hermione, the latter who only had eyes for Draco Malfoy. She looked just as unsure as Ron. She was pretending to be calm but the tight grip and the rapid fall and rise of her chest gave her away.

Ron searched Draco from top to bottom and sure enough he found the blade but he didn't bother checking to see if in fact it was anything more than it seemed. He took it and walked back to his two friends.

"I don't know what you're doing Harry, there's no way I'll ever trust him. Not unless he brings us you know who's head on a platter himself." Ron Weasley said bringing the knife over to him.

"He's not wrong about everything he said, Voldemort did make him swear-"

"No!" Draco said looking around him frantically but the room continued to be only filled with the loud yells of the woman who he only now realized was actually a portrait by the wall. A plump witch was holding family heirlooms while sitting on a horrendous green armchair. She was looking at them all yelling things like mudbloods and blood traitors. "You can't say his name!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot your kind likes to call him the Dark Lord." Harry said with such sharpness in his voice Draco wondered if it could literally cut him.

"It's not that," Draco wondered why they hadn't shown up. Gibbon had told the Dark Lord the trace was set, was there some sort of magic stopping them from coming in? "There's a trace on the name, if you say it the Death Eaters will come."

The Granger girl ran to a window by the yelling portrait and moved the blinds aside. He again wondered why no one had knocked to see what all the yelling was about and why Granger had so brazenly swatted the cloth away from the window. Wasn't she afraid someone from the outside would look in?

"He's right Harry," Hermione walked away from the window, her wand clutched more tightly against her. "One of them was definitely at the wedding, I remember pushing him aside to get to you."

Ron hurried past her and looked out the window to verify. When he turned back he was looking a bit green. "There's at least 6 of them outside."

They all stared at Draco.

"I know you can't take my word and I don't know how to prove to you that I'm no longer fighting for them but I'll do anything you ask, anything you want to prove it to you." Draco pleaded. He felt like vomiting. The feeling he had back in the Malfoy manor when he had hoped Potter was alive came back to him full force.

"Short of making an unbreakable vow, there is nothing you can do Malfoy," Potter said stepping closer and aiming at Draco's heart.

"I'll do it," Draco said remembering the pain of the Cruciatus curse. He wondered how death would compare to pledging his alliance to Potter.

"What?" The trio said in unison.

Draco swallowed his pride, whatever there was left, whatever hadn't been killed along with the torture and laughter of the people he used to think was family. "I'll do whatever. If you want me to swear to jump in front of you if someone sends an unforgivable your way I'll do it. If you want me to tell you all the dirty little secrets of every death eater I know then I will.-"

"If I want you to walk out that door and turn yourself into you know who?" Potter asked.

Draco took a moment before he answered. He started at the three in front of him. Had he really been so evil?

"I will," Draco's voice cracked, "but I think I'm much more valuable to you alive."

"I don't believe him," the Weasley boy said. "You people are master manipulators. I'd love to see you make a vow Malfoy and I'll personally dance around your body when you break it."

"Ron!" Hermione Granger had sat down and was looking pale. "I remember Malfoy being cruel and weak, he was never a good actor though." She didn't look at him, only at her two friends. "Harry, it's up to you."

"Do you trust him?" He asked her.

Granger looked at Draco straight on for the first time. He knew all those times he had taunted her, threatened her and her kind were rushing back to her. He wished he hadn't been such a bloody idiot before. He wished he could be different but in this moment, right now, it was all up to her.

"No," she said and Draco actually felt dizzy, "but I can make it so he can't loophole his way out of a vow. He could be useful Harry. I think we need to get past school yard hate, we could die without the information he has."

Potter stared at his friend for a moment. Draco could tell he was weighing his options. "Can you do it Hermione?"

"I read about it before summer, I'm pretty sure I can do it. But who would do it with him?"

"I will," Potter said. There was an outcry from the other two and their arguments joined in with the loud portrait.

"You're too valuable Harry!"

"How dare a mudblood taint the great house of Black?"

"You're off your rocker if you think you're doing it!"

"BE GONE THUGS AND MUDBLOOD TRASH!"

"Oh SHUT UP!" Hermione stood up and walked to the yelling portrait. She pointed her wand at it and a white flash appeared. She hadn't uttered a single word. A curtain enveloped the portrait and silence followed.

"I can do it," Hermione said turning once she was sure the curtains wouldn't fly open. "One of you will have to join us though. It's not hard really, a first year could do it."

"No, no way," Weasley said, "I won't do it and Harry won't either will you Harry?"

Potter looked at Weasley and then at Draco who was still perched on the stairs with his hands in the air.

"I'll do it," Harry said and Ron stormed past them into another room screaming profanities. He didn't reappear until Granger had finished explaining to Potter how to perform the spell. He stood in the back, his hand clutching his wand and his face tomato red.

"Let's see then Malfoy," Potter walked over to the edge of the stairs and allowed Draco to descend them. Granger stood next to Potter and in front of Draco.

They clasped hands tightly, both were shaking. Potter stepped onto one of the stairs and looked between the two. They had never touched like this before. Hermione remembered punching Draco in her third year. That had felt satisfying, this felt wrong.

"Are you ready?" Potter asked but Draco was sure he wasn't asking him.

"I'm ready," Granger said. Potter pointed his wand at their clasped hands. Weasley took a few uneasy steps forward.

"Do you, Draco Malfoy swear to never return to work for Lord Voldemort or any death eater, including Lucius Malfoy? And to completely devote your entire self to helping our cause?"

"I do," Draco said feeling a pain in his stomach and a burning in his hand. A gold strand appeared from the end of Potter's wand and enveloped his and Hermione's hand.

"Do you swear to never reveal anything you may hear us say or plan vocally, written or otherwise unless specifically given permission?"

Draco felt confusion, even between Potter and Weasley but he had to do this, no matter how much it confused him. "I do." Another strand appeared and their hands became hotter.

"Do you swear to answer any questions to the best of your ability about Lord Voldemort, his supporters, your parents and yourself?"

"I do."

"Will you fight against our enemies, lie for us, leave if we ask, never try to hurt anyone on our side and uphold all of these rules until we see fit you have honored them?"

"I do," Draco said forcefully. His hand was shaking uncontrollably now. There were so many strands now wrapped around them that he could hardly make out their fingers.

Hermione's eyes watered and her whole frame was still. There was a fierceness in the way she held Draco's hand. Draco couldn't look away. He wanted to see inside her but refrained.

She let go of him and turned her back. She was holding herself as she caught her breath. She shooed away Weasley when he tried to hug her.

She turned around and got so close to Draco's face he could smell her perfume. Her eyes were dilated and he realized he had never noticed the freckles on her nose. "If you find a loophole, if you betray us somehow, I will find you and I will kill you myself. Or worse, I'll send you back to Voldemort with a bow tied around your neck and a card signed by all of us."

She walked away and climbed the stairs. A minute later they all heard a door slam.

"Come on," Harry said to Ron. They both looked at Draco trying to size him up as if this was their first day at Hogwarts. "There's nothing he can do to us now."

"I don't want to hurt you," Draco whispered feeling like his lungs had stopped helping him breathe. He turned around not wanting to see if they believed him or not. He walked into the room Weasley had left before and realized it was a small sitting room. He saw a couch and laid down on it. He felt he had just given up his life and had gotten nothing in return. This was death.

His eyes became heavy with exhaustion. Adrenaline crash. It didn't bother him that the three people who hated him more than the Dark Lord were upstairs talking about him. Or that there was at least half a dozen Death Eaters outside waiting for someone to open a door or crack a window so that they could come in and kill them.

He knew what this place was now. It had been the Order's headquarters and the reason he had read the address instead of hearing about it was because it was safe guarded. He was part of the spell now. Even if he wanted to tell anyone he wouldn't be able to. He'd die and he was positive it also went against the Unbreakable Vow somehow.

He wasn't sure what felt worse, having made it or having made it with Hermione Granger of all people. He doubted there was anything he could do to make them trust him. Sure they might not fear him anymore but there was always the hate. The hate he felt for them too. Although now he wasn't quite sure why he hated them. Potter was helpless without the other two and yet he was always smug. The Weasley kid was as smart as Crabb and Goyle put together which wasn't saying much and relied all too heavily on Granger. Hermione Granger, he hated everything about her.

Her hair, the way she walked, the way her hand always shot up in class and answered regardless of being called on. He hated the fact that he had always been second in their year. No one even noticed their scores were always a number off. He hated that every boy in their year found her irresistible and she didn't even know it. He hated the way she had everything in the world and was not worthy. And yet he couldn't actually fault her logically.

He had worked hard hadn't he? He had stayed up late every night doing homework, practicing for Quidditch, wooing his classmates with his charm. Sure he had done it all under the assumption that what he stood for was right but that had turned out horribly bad. He had still come in second place and lost all of the people he thought were friends. He was alone and afraid and tired of feeling so much hate.

He was tired. He fell asleep on that couch. He dreamed of the Cruciatus curse and of the vow and of thin slits for eyes.

Title means: They condemn what they do not understand.

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