"Let her go! You fucking let her go!" Ron growled angrily at the man holding his sister...the one who had killed his brother.
Augustus Rookwood didn't move from his position, obviously deciphering his best plan of action. The dark wizard had shown deadly tenacity at the Battle of Hogwarts, unhesitant to strike fatal blows to even the youngest of students, remaining without a hint a of remorse. And now, his grip was tightly around the youngest Weaseley, ready to kill her as well.
"Just leave her alone," Charlie tried to speak in a calm, soothing voice, but his attempt was fragile.
Harry, disconcerted by the sudden turn of events, stared at the scene, not knowing how to react and feeling completely bereft. The deatheater would have no qualms about murdering his wife even though the auror knew Rookwood only held her to assure his own freedom. At this point, they had already let a vampire who could have led them to Gerald, get away, yet there was no doubt in their minds at that instance that Rookwood was more dangerous.
"What do you want?" Harry breathed, afraid that waiting too long to act would prompt the man to kill and run.
The deatheater glinted at Potter, still quiet. Certainly, he felt that his desire was stupidly apparent. Harry's eyes didn't leave him. He was prepared to do anything to save his wife. Ginny had stayed unmoved the entire time, though her chest heaved greatly. To the auror's sides, his brothers were standing strong on the outside, but just below...they were shaking... Neither were prepared to lose another member of their family.
Harry dithered between offering to submit himself in exchange for her or ordering his companions to stand down and let Augustus leave if he let Ginny go. But neither was good. He couldn't place any trust that the dark wizard would keep any bargain and not simply kill the girl just because he was able...or even throw the killing curse at one of the other wizards once they had become unarmed. Attacking was the only option to ensure her safety. But with the way he was hiding behind her...it would be immensely difficult to take him down in one hit.
Ioana seemed to be the one person who held to stone. Even Draco was unsure of what was going on and what to do. The Romanian witch was the first to make any headway.
"We don't care about you, pup," she stated with as much confidence as ever, clearly having taken hints to know who the man was and the gravity of the current predicament, "Just let the girl go and we will leave you to deal with the friend that just betrayed you."
The gears in Rookwood's head seemed to shift rotation at the statement. Vasile's behaviour had been a shock to the man. Even now, he was putting together what had gone wrong...as were the others.
Vasile and Luka had been one in the same. It appeared that the deatheater had not been aware of the fact or perhaps, if he had, the vampire knew of the ordeal with Gerald and Rookwood had simply been oblivious to his involvement with it. In any case, the visit to Vasile's home had obviously been an unwelcome surprise. Yet, instead of simply turning the visitors away, he had chosen to reveal his ally's identity to the men who probably wanted him dead more than anyone else in the world. It was a harsh blow, but it had guaranteed the vampire had been able to flee. Was the creature that furious with Rookwood? Or had there been another motive in choosing such a course of action?
"Just let it alone," Draco's voice sounded odd coming from the aurors' side. "If they wanted to bother with you, they'd have done it already."
The ex-deatheater had kept his wand aimed at the wizard until he spoke. Then, he had lowered it to his side, making a large half circle with both arms in a gesture that said, 'come on, you're being ridiculous.' Oddly enough, Rookwood responded...
Shoving Ginny forward into Malfoy, he simultaneously set his wand on Ioana, whom he had judged to be the most clear-headed, "Crucio!"
Ioana's parry was instantaneous. She deflected the spell just as Draco caught Ginny and kept the two of them from falling. Charlie and Harry each managed to cast offensive spells at the departing enemy, but each shot missed by mere inches, striking the curtains behind where he had vanished.
Ioana stepped forward as if to be sure he was actually gone as the others placed focus on Ginny. The witch had fallen into the arms of the Slytherin who had taken her gently and helped her to her feet. The sight of his sister in an unintentional embrace with the man that had tricked them into working with his brother's murderer was too much for Ron.
The red-headed auror jolted toward the two, tearing Ginny away from Draco and shoving her back to her husband as he gripped the neck of the ex-deatheater's robes and dug the tip of his wand beneath the man's chin.
"The fuck is wrong with you?" he spat angrily at his captor, "How fucking dare you let that slime near us? How f-fucking DARE YOU!"
The wizard had lost all control, seething with with so much hatred, that it actually startled those around him.
"I didn't know!" Draco squeaked, having dropped his own weapon in the sudden rush.
"BULLSHIT!" Ron screamed, pressing his wand deeper into the other man's throat.
"Ron," Ginny breathed, breaking away from Harry and creeping closer to her brother to set a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down."
"No, I will not calm down!" he threw back, "It's bad enough that we had to deal with him in the first place, but now this? The fucking bastard deserves to fucking-" the redhead cut himself short, swallowing hard as he grasped Malfoy tighter...then he slowly eased from the man, giving one final push so forceful that Draco tumbled backward and nearly fell though he was caught by Ioana.
Ron spun around, clearly finding it hard to keep himself from pummeling the white-haried wizard. But he took his sister in a hug, unable to smile over her shoulder at the other auror and Charlie who were both gazing at him with concern.
Ioana, on the other hand pedaled in reverse, leaving the Slytherin to find his own feet. She stepped to the side, studying the unsettled family silently trying to relax their brother. "If you beat him, I would say nothing," she spoke, drawing everyone's attention as she glared down at the ex-deatheater who had just gotten to his knees and was pushing himself up the rest of the way.
Harry knew she meant to help and he also had no doubt she was a hundred percent serious. However, as much as he wanted to punish Draco himself, it wasn't what should be done despite the transparency of his denial of knowing he had brought along Augustus Rookwood. It was obvious then why he had kept fumbling when referring to his friend...why he had attempted to act like he wasn't truly associated with the man.
To add to the frustration, both the deatheater and the vampire had gotten away, leaving the investigators in a precarious position. Vasile, if involved with Gerald which was likely, would alert the others to the aurors bearing down on them. It would, in the worst case scenario, provoke the creatures into ensuring that they were not discovered...which meant some sort of attack. They had no idea how far a reach the dark beings had and therefore how capable they would be in locating those who knew about them. Unfortunately those people would include the entirety of the Weaseley family and the Malfoys as well as Ioana.
Ron had refused to glance back at his enemy, trying to keep his sanity in tact. His fury could still be felt by all in the room. Harry patted his partner's back before taking a deep breath and speaking.
"Draco," the auror said sternly, eyes dead set on who he addressed, "I don't believe your help is needed any longer."
The young Malfoy had regained himself and retrieved his wand. He stared blankly at the auror, eyes darting from the dark-haired wizard, across the others that had put him in their vision and back, "Harry, I-"
Harry held up a hand to silence him, "Just leave, Malfoy."
It was a strange sight to see the ex-deatheater saddened...even remorseful...but enough was enough. The aurors refused to be civil any more. Draco drew a long breath, turning to the side and making his way to the door. When he reached the exit, though, he paused, "I just want to free my father," he spoke softly, "For what it is...he was my family."
Draco didn't look for a response as he continued over the threshold and walked away. The company wasn't in the mind to have given him one anyway, although the despairing words from the wizard left them in a confused mess of anger, fear, sorrow...and compassion...