The portrait stilled once again, having finished its monologue concerning Gerald.
"Is that everything he left?" Harry asked.
Draco stared coldly back at the auror, "About him, yes."
Harry nodded his head, gathering that there was more there about other things. That didn't matter to him right then though. He was focused on this ally of the dark lord.
Lucius' ghost suddenly reappeared beside his son then as if sensing that the other impression of him was finished speaking of his past acquaintance.
"We're going to find out what is going on and give your family justice," Harry spoke with an odd warmth to the dead deatheater, but the kindness was meant more for his son.
The ghost shook his head in dismissal, "Angelos tis avyssou, o daimonas tou kenou."
All eyes laid on the phantom, who angrily repeated the words once and then a second time with a gesture mimicking writing.
"Wait!" Hermione yelled, realizing that Lucius wanted them to know this phrase he was replying. She retrieved a piece of paper and a pen from her bag before looking back at the dead man, "Angelos tis avvy-?"
"Angelos tis avyssou, o daimonas tou kenou," he said once more in a calm voice.
The witch jotted down the words, spelling them as best she could, "Is there anything else?"
Lucius looked from the woman off to his side before walking away, his form vanishing again. She gave one last look at the parchment before putting it and the pen away in her purse.
"What now, Potter?" Draco asked.
Harry scratched his head. He honestly wasn't entirely sure. They weren't supposed to divulge details of this case, but keeping Malfoy out of matters seemed a moot point now. Besides, having his full cooperation and help might work best in putting this all to rest.
"Do you know anything about vampires?" the auror inquired bluntly.
"What the hell are you babbling about?" Draco seemed frustrated.
Ron, quickly catching on that his partner was no longer worried with keeping secrets from Malfoy, interjected, "We bumped into Gerald recently and he'd been attacked by a vampire. Not that he outright shared that detail..."
Draco shook his head, eyes rolling as if in disbelief, "I don't know anything about vampires and as far as I'm aware, neither did my father."
"First, we need to figure out what your father is trying to tell us-what those words mean," Harry skipped any further explanation of his original question and kept on, "But I think we need to arrange for the two of you to meet."
Draco lifted an eyebrow, "As much as I would enjoy putting this bastard in his place, why don't you just arrest him?"
Harry sighed at the man's readiness to fight a person his own father found powerful, but ignored the menacing statement, "We have no viable reason for doing so and we've observed that Gerald doesn't respond well to feeling threatened. It will be safer to wait until we have something concrete to use to keep him in custody so that he doesn't lash out and harm anybody."
"Nothing viable? You have my father's word not only of his use of necromancy and dark magic, but of countless murders!" Draco objected.
"His word might have gotten deatheaters convicted in the past, but we're not at war anymore," Hermione said flatly, "And the fact that he had said nothing of this before when he saw that Gerald was still alive doesn't speak too well either."
The young Malfoy grunted in defeat, "Fine. How do you propose going about this meeting? I assume you're not just going to bring me to him."
"No, we can't do that," the lead auror agreed, "and this needs to be more than simple. You need to confront him, assuming you're comfortable with doing so."
Draco crossed his arms, "Of course I am. You want me to accuse him of killing my father like I did when you delivered news of his death, I'm guessing."
Harry nodded.
"Don't you think that's dangerous?" Ginny's soft voice cut in.
"Yeah, it is," her brother agreed, "It's likely for him to start viewing Malfoy as an enemy or a threat."
"But a rising body count would raise more suspicion," Hermione mused, "which is definitely not desirable to him. I find it more likely that he loses his temper at the initial confrontation and attacks then."
"That's why this will be arranged," Harry continued, "We'll all be around to help ensure your safety and if he does attack you, don't hesitate. We're on your side."
The auror's words were grave and his old rival surprisingly did not take them lightly, "Obviously not a preferred outcome. So what do I need to get him to say? How should I start?"
A quiet settled upon the room as the aurors and their wives thought about this detail. Draco waited as patiently as he was capable of as they came up with the rest of the strategy.
"Call him out, but not vengefully," Hermione was the one to come up with the best approach, "Play under the assumption that he doesn't know how you feel about your father. Pretend you're angry with Lucius and don't care to bring his killer to justice but let him know that you know he's the murderer...and that you're grateful he's dead. But you want to know why he wanted your father out of the way. The idea is to get him to corroborate Lucius' stories about him or get a confession about the murder."
"Both would be best, of course," Harry added, "It'd be enough to arrest him and for us to push for use of veritaserum to learn everything else we need to know."
Draco inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly, removing his gaze from the others and turning on his heels to stare at the window where his father had walked before disappearing. "OK," he finally said. "Let's do this."
The aurors nodded. "We'll have to see where he is now and find out where he will be before we can do anything," Ron said.
"I will be waiting and ready," Draco grinned.
He then showed his guests back out of the manor where they strolled away from the mansion a comfortable distance before conferring among one another.
"Hermione, you and Ginny go home," Harry instructed, "Work on deciphering that parchment. Ron and I are going to pay Gerald and his friends a visit."
"Right," Ginny said, giving her husband a quick hug, "Hopefully he's ended his hiatus after seeing you in Hogsmeade."
Harry chuckled, "Yeah."
The wizards waited for their wives to disapparate home before they did the same except their destination was Salt Box Road. Once on the familiar stretch in Dunsfold, the two made their way up the sidewalk, ending the trek with a knock on the door. As always, it didn't take but mere moments for the door to be answered.
"You guys don't venture out much," Harry smiled at Oliver the moment the home was opened to them.
Oliver returned the greeting with a strained smile and a laugh, "No, of the three of us, Brad is the only extrovert. But he's been sticking close while we sort things out."
The friendly wizard began walking back inside halfway through his speech, by now the familiarity between him and the aurors allowed for a more informal invitation inside. Upon reaching the den, Harry and Ron spotted Gerald sitting in one of the chairs, a hand held a cell phone to his ear and the other stroked a fat white and black rat laying on his shoulder. The gash on his face was completely healed, leaving hardly a scar at all. Magic.
His eyes met Harry's, his face expressionless as he spoke into the phone, "Yes, alright, email it to me and I'll send a confirmation right away."
He took his hand from his pet and let the phone slide down from his ear into it. Pressing a button, he slipped the device into the front pocket of his black jeans, keeping his head straight and eyes forward the entire time.
"I see you made it home alright," Ron tried to start the conversation.
The dark wizard continued staring, but remained silent.
"Just checking in, as usual," Harry said, "Your face is healing well."
The man kept quietly eyeing the aurors.
"Ger, talk to them. Just get it over with," Oliver sighed, stepping between the men and taking a seat on the arm of the couch.
The white haired wizard began petting his furry friend again, gaze never faltering from his guests, "I don't see why I should. Their job is to incriminate me. I can continue to deny any guilt while they continue to ignore it and keep searching into other ways of learning about me or I can save my breath and just wait for them to decide what they're going to do. Will be a lot less stressful for everyone."
"Or," Harry retorted, "You could be honest with us. An honest criminal is given much more leniency than a difficult one."
A huge grin slowly spread across the dark wizard's face. "My point proven. Either you've always assumed me guilty, or you've found something to disprove my innocence. It's a wasted effort for me to speak to you any longer."
Harry mentally chastised himself for his wording. He had thought about it prior to speaking, but had apparently still made the wrong choice in deciding to phrase it that way. "Very well, we'll note your refusal to cooperate any longer."
Gerald picked the rodent up from his shoulder, kissing it on the top of the head and then placed it in his lap. The rat walked in a short half circle and then let his body slide easily down the wizard's knee, scurrying from the room and to the kitchen as soon as it hit the floor. Gerald looked from his pet back up to Harry and Ron as he leaned back in his seat. The aurors looked at each other, then to Oliver.
Before either of them could even part their lips, Oliver spoke up, "I apologize for it, but I do understand Gerald's decision. However, should you wish to speak to me, I remain at your disposal."
Harry almost hummed aloud as the man's calm respect for Gerald's declination to continue treating them amiably, if you could describe his behaviour thus far as such, registered in his mind that whatever had happened between the bandmates since the dark wizard's recent return had only solidified their bond and therefore Oliver's loyalty to Gerald. Any possibility the aurors had discussed of gathering more information or better help from Oliver against his friend had diminished.
"We appreciate that," Ron said. "We are curious as to your plans. It would be helpful to know as we are currently obligated to keep an eye on things. Have you three found work?"
Oliver took a deep breath, no doubt annoyed by this, but not surprised either. "We have," he said. "That was our new manager Ger was on the phone with, actually. He has us set to be part of a music festival with other artists in London this coming month. We've never performed outside of North America so it's sort of meant to determine the new audience's opinion of us before we can properly move forward in getting other gigs or going on a tour at all."
"What is the name of the festival?" Harry asked.
"Maysfield Music and More, I believe. Maysfield, anyway," Oliver shrugged.
"Well, best of luck to all of you," Harry smiled, letting his eyes leave Oliver and rest on Gerald briefly.
The dark wizard kept his disinterested demeanor as the aurors nodded and took their leave.