CHAPTER TEN: The Strategy
They spent a whole weekend trying to figure out which of the Death Eaters were most probably still active. On a Sunday afternoon, they were all sitting in the living room of the Malfoy Manor again, studying the board that Lucius had presented to them.
"So that's Rookwood, Nott, Lestrange, Goyle – both senior and junior, and Rosier. Some of them are imprisoned, but still, they could be somehow pulling strings from behind bars. I think either Dolohov, Lestrange or Nott could be leading them. Only they have enough brains to organise something like that. Now that Dolohov is out of the picture, only Nott and Lestrange are left. And we both know the best way to contact one of them," he glanced meaningfully at his son.
Draco shook his head. "Theo hasn't been in contact with him for years."
"Doesn't change the fact that if he wanted to, he'd do it effortlessly."
"I'm not dragging him into this!" snapped Draco.
Lucius shot him a sympathetic look, frowning slightly.
"I know you don't want to, Draco, but I haven't been in contact with Death Eaters for years. I don't know how to find them. And I certainly have nothing to offer them in return should I wish to try to contact them – as opposed to you. I'm telling you that Theo is the easiest and the safest way in for you."
Draco studied his father closely. He knew he was right, but how could he drag another person into this? And his best friend, at that. He noticed Potter looking as if he was going to jump off his seat, his eyes wide.
Draco sighed heavily. "Very well, I'll try to talk to him."
His father nodded slightly, clearly satisfied, and Harry sat down, visibly calmer.
"Good," replied Lucius. "And my advice? I know you don't want to, but if you were to bring Theo with you, it would really help your case. It would be more believable. They know you weren't keen on being a Death Eater, to begin with. But if you brought Theo and convinced them that he wanted to get in contact with his father and you just wanted to help him… Explain to them that you knew that the only way to do that was to make yourself useful, and that's why you have some information for them."
Draco glared at him angrily.
"He's right," Hermione spoke out suddenly. "It's a good way to make this story believable. And it would be the safest option, too, because you wouldn't promise anything about joining their gang. It would be just helping them – in exchange for the prodigal son to meet his father again. We should do it. Let's contact Nott, Malfoy. The sooner, the better."
He shook his head, chuckling.
"Hermione Granger," he said. "I'm being bossed around by Hermione Granger."
She turned to him, lifting an eyebrow.
"And I'm mildly enjoying it," he said with a smile.
She rolled her eyes but returned the smile.
"Do you think you can contact him now, Malfoy?" asked Harry.
"I'll send him an owl, but it could take a few hours."
"A Patronus would be quicker," noticed Hermione, and Draco stared at her, shock clear on his face.
"You can produce a Patronus that can talk?" he asked, not being able to hide the impression from his voice.
All the Malfoys now stared at Hermione.
"Well, yeah," she shrugged with a smug smile. "So, where does Theo live?"
Draco gave her an address and tried to explain where exactly it was.
"Brilliant," she said with a smile.
She took out her wand and conjured a silvery otter that hopped happily out of the house. The Malfoys stared out of the window in shock. Harry chuckled under his nose, amused with how impressed they were.
But Hermione's smile quickly faltered. She tried to explain to herself why on Merlin's beard, her otter was so bright today. She wasn't thinking about someone's eyes and the new understanding and the weird closeness, was she? No, it was definitely something else. Only, she couldn't exactly remember what it was.
Luckily, she didn't really have time to give this a second thought because someone started knocking furiously. She assumed Theo had already gotten the message and apparated to the Malfoy Manor. Narcissa and Lucius hurried to open the door.
"You're doing what now?!" he exclaimed, pushing through the Malfoys and inviting himself in. He stormed to the living room but stood abruptly after seeing all the faces. His eyes landed on Hermione. "And you can do what now?"
Blaise hurried after him and looked around the room, unsure what to do. Harry stood up and gave them a respective nod.
"We need your help," he stated as both Theo and Blaise stared at him.
"Yes, but in catching former Death Eaters? Have you gone mad?" asked Nott surlily.
"Yes to the first question, and hopefully no to the second. It's the gang that is responsible for the whole Shacklebolt mess. Potter's onto them," explained Draco calmly, sitting down and gesturing for his friends to do the same.
They reluctantly listened to him, Nott murmuring under his breath something about a death wish.
"Okay, but can we just talk about the invasion of privacy? One moment we're sitting in the living room, and then a fucking otter jumps through a window and starts talking in her voice," snarled Theo, pointing to Hermione, who raised her arms defensively.
Narcissa and Lucius shared an amused look, and the latter cleared his throat.
"Mr and Mrs Malfoy!" noticed Theo, suddenly embarrassed. "I mean a… freaking otter? Never mind, it was super scary!"
"You know it works like a message, right? So it's not an invasion of privacy. If you got scared, I apologise. But we need to act fast."
Theo glanced at Draco quizzically.
He just shrugged. "Look, you're our best chance right now. If you don't want to do that, I'll understand. But if we were to contact Death Eaters, it would be best to do that via your father. Besides, it would be the most logical choice. We'll offer them some information in exchange for your 'meeting', and hopefully, we'll sniff something out about their next move or a hiding place. This way, we're not promising them anything, so we should be relatively safe."
"Relatively, you say?" muttered Blaise, concern clear in his voice.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Theo, but this is the most reliable way of action right now. If I could do this alone, I would but-"
"Oh, don't bullshit me, Draco," interjected Theo, with a tiny smirk. "You're afraid of your own shadow. As long as you're not admiring it, you'd push me to the front to save you from it."
"That's not-"
"Ah, I forgot Granger is here," he smiled at her, a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes. "He is, of course, an admirably brave and a selfless person, a knight in the shining armour, one might say-"
"Okay, I think we're losing focus on what's important here?" interrupted Draco angrily, to which Theo only chuckled.
Narcissa and Lucius were sitting straight, looking incredibly awkward throughout the conversation.
"Why, of course. So, what's our plan?"
"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Blaise, glancing at him nervously and eventually grabbing his arm. "You don't have to."
"I know I don't have to," snorted Theo. "But who's going to save our blonde princess from the hands of the horrible fire-breathing Death Eaters?"
"Then I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not."
"I'm sorry, but we really should involve as few people as possible," said Hermione, looking at him sympathetically.
"I don't-"
"What he means is," Draco cut in with a forced smile. "Of course, Granger, I agree, that is the rational course of action."
"I don't-"
"Yes, you do," interrupted Harry, who was apparently losing his patience. "I understand you're concerned for your mate, but we need this plan to go as smoothly as possible."
The three Slytherins exchanged amused looks.
"Did I say something funny?"
Hermione looked over at Harry, concerned he may explode any second, especially since Narcissa and Lucius chuckled as well.
"No, of course not," shrugged Draco. "Then it is decided. Theo and I are going in as soon as we find them. The rest of you focuses on how to get us out of there alive."
At those words, a heavy silence hung in the room.
"Right," sniggered Blaise. "Brilliant."
"I should send a letter, then? Hopefully, an owl will find him," decided Theo, and the rest simply nodded.
"I'm sorry," he said, taking Blaise's hand. "I'll be careful, I promise."
They stared at each other for a long while, but eventually, Zabini sighed and nodded. Theo smiled at him sweetly and gave him a quick kiss to the forehead, to which Blaise just waved his hand dismissively, smirking slightly.
"Wait, so you guys are a couple?" asked Harry dumbfounded, way louder than he should.
All eyes in the room rested on him.
"Oh, dear," muttered Narcissa under her breath.
Lucius closed his eyes as if that could help him not feel embarrassed.
"I mean, I just asked-"
"Well, that's been interesting," jeered Theo, interrupting him. "And yes, Potter, we are a couple. However, seeing that we certainly have more pressing matters to pursue, I should go ahead with that letter. Madame Minister, care to help me with the semantics?"
She just nodded and quickly left the room after him, giving Harry a meaningful glance so that he'd behave.
"Dear Father,
I know I haven't talked to you in a long time, even though you've tried to contact me numerous times. I had to deal with things on my own. However, after all these years, I think I'm finally ready, and I hope you can understand why I acted the way I did. I know you have no reason to trust me now. That's why I can share some information that could be useful to you and prove my loyalty at the same time.
I'm hopeful we will meet again soon.
Your son, Theodore."
Hermione looked at the letter critically but eventually nodded with approval.
"We won't get anything better, anyway," she sighed. "Everything will seem suspicious to us now. We just must hope it won't be suspicious to them."
"Right," Theo agreed with her and summoned one of the Malfoys' owls. He tied the letter to her leg, and after she got a snack, she happily flew out of the window.
"Well, nothing we can do about it now."
They both stared out on the gardens for a second. The sun was already setting, bringing some colour to the overall grey, autumnal landscape.
"We should go back to the others. Figure out what to do next. And what everyone's part should be. Form a plan or rather – plans," noticed Hermione matter-of-factly.
"Aren't you worried about Draco?" Theo blurted out, looking pensive.
"Excuse me?" she asked, baffled.
"He's not the most… tough person."
"I think he's gone through so much it made him tougher, don't you think? I don't know him as well as you do, of course, but I got that feeling," she admitted, fiddling with her hands.
"Yeah, I suppose."
"I think he can pull through. This time, it's different. Besides, he's really driven to redeem himself this time, isn't he?"
"So am I," he confessed, averting her gaze, still staring after the owl that was now a dark dot on the sky.
"But you weren't a Death Eater… Were you?" she asked cautiously, looking at him with concern.
"No. But it doesn't excuse the things I've done. See, I've never apologised to you for laughing at you and this whole – er – mudblood-business. I'm sorry. I know I'm more of a throw a joke here and there kind of guy, but I mean it. I apologise."
He met her gaze for a second, his bright eyes apologetic.
"It's okay," she shook her head. "More people start apologising for it nowadays. I guess… I mean, it doesn't erase what you've done – of course it doesn't, but I appreciate the gesture. Besides, it was so long ago… I can't hold it against you forever. And, you know, if you didn't call me that, if you lot didn't bully me back in the day, who knows who would I be now? It's one of the reasons why I am who I am today. It's one of the factors that made me this strong and thick-skinned."
Theo studied her curiously for a second. "Thank you for understanding."
"It's not about understanding. It's more about… letting go of the past. And looking at you differently. Of course, it doesn't change the fact that you were an arse."
Nott nodded, chuckling. "I was, wasn't I?"
"And a stupid one, too," she smiled, elbowing him in the ribs. "I mean, we could've been friends."
"Yeah, would've made all this terrible Arithmancy homework easier. I have no clue why I haven't thought about teaming up with you. I mean, it was the only subject at which I was better than Draco, and I really wanted to stick it to him. Ridiculous, how prejudice can prevent you from achieving things."
"Yeah, and to think a Slytherin didn't figure it out earlier," she noticed shrewdly.
Theo snorted, and the silence hung between them for a second.
"We should go back," Hermione smiled sadly.
He nodded, and they went back to the living room. Harry was writing something down furiously with Draco and Blaise watching him curiously. Narcissa and Lucius were discussing something, still bent over the list of names, clearly taken in the task.
All of them looked up when Theo and Hermione came back.
"So?" asked Harry impatiently.
"It's sent," declared Theo. "All that is left to do now is wait."
"Great. Now, as the Head of Aurors' office, I have tasks for all of you," announced Harry, getting up from his seat.
Everyone watched him as he studied his own notes thoughtfully. Theo and Blaise exchanged amused glances – they certainly never would've thought they were going to listen to Potter's orders one day. And willingly, at that.
"Malfoy and Nott will, hopefully, get in contact with Nott senior. Once they do that, we have to be prepared. Hermione and I will be on security duty. We'll ensure everything will go smoothly and no one gets harmed."
"I want to do it too, then," volunteered Blaise.
Harry studied him critically. "Do you have any qualifications?"
"Well, no… But I'm good at duelling."
"What is your job, then?" pressured Harry.
"Insurances," said Blaise, raising his eyebrow incredulously.
"Insurances?"
"Yes, Potter, insurances. I sit in an office all day and take care of people's insurances. Which, I might add, do not cover putting oneself in danger by fighting the Death Eaters."
Theo sighed theatrically and put his hand on Blaise's back.
"Relax, both of you," he commanded. "Blaise may join you, right Potter?"
Harry studied them both with narrowed eyes. "And will you follow my orders? Without hesitation?"
"Unless you tell me to jump into the fire, yes, I can promise that," said Blaise, placing his hand on his heart.
"Fine, then," snorted Harry, clearly not exactly warmed up to the idea. "But you'll do everything I tell you to do. Otherwise, the mission will fail, and the first people who will suffer because of that will be Nott and Malfoy. Do you understand that?"
Blaise nodded, swallowing hard.
"Great. Because I need people who I can trust in one hundred per cent. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt just because I can see you care about your friends. And I'm hoping to use that because that way, I can trust you wouldn't do anything that could harm them."
The silence in the room followed by these words seemed even heavier than before. Hermione looked around, and everyone was staring at Harry, slightly terrified. He hasn't changed that much from the war, but ever since he got a job as an Auror, he definitely increased his leadership skills. And their team wasn't… Well, perfect, so Harry had to act tough to put them in place. She knew that it was more challenging for him than he let on.
"All right, then," said Hermione, a bit shakily, just to fill this silence. "We wait for the message from Nott's father. Then, we send Malfoy and Nott to the meeting, provided his father agrees..."
Everyone listened to her intently, so her confidence increased a bit.
"Wherever it'll be, Harry, Zabini and I will be there as security, in case something not according to the plan happens. We listen in, hope he'll say something useful or at least drop some hints. Once we find out something we want to know, we should arrange some kind of a signal to withdraw, right?"
"It depends where he'll invite them. If he does at all. But I think we could use Zabini here," said Harry, glancing at Blaise, much to his surprise. "Once we get what we want, he should come over, say hi, a little bit of small talk for like five minutes and make up some kind of an excuse so that they could leave."
"What excuse?" asked Zabini, frowning.
"Whatever, but don't make it an emergency, everyone does that, and it's suspicious from the start. Some kind of a pre-arranged meeting would be the best and just say the three of you agreed to meet there. You know, like dinner with an uncle or something, but we'll figure this out beforehand."
"And you really think he'll fall for that?"
"Well, you have to make it believable," Harry noticed with a smirk.
Blaise rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, boss."