CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The meeting
The following morning, Draco was standing in front of a suspicious restaurant in Knockturn Alley, struggling to understand how comms worked – one of Harry's most priced achievements. Inspired by muggle technology, he invented, with just a tiny bit of help from Hermione, a device for undercover missions for the Aurors. Draco, however (even after having received training on how to use them), had absolutely no understanding of how the device worked with no magic involved. Finally, after a few minutes of struggling, he could hear everything clearly.
"You're on, Malfoy. If you can hear us properly, you can proceed," announced Harry.
He and Hermione were sitting in a teashop in Diagon Alley, pretending to be enjoying a friendly meeting. Meanwhile, Blaise was in a reading room inside the nearby library.
"Going in," whispered Draco and a moment later, he opened the door with a horrible squeak.
He went inside the restaurant so dimly lit that he could hardly see anything. Not that he expected anything else from Knockturn Alley – but still. He looked around the room. Many dingy tables were scattered about without any reasonable pattern, and at one of them, Nott Senior was seated. Draco walked past the bar with a questionable choice of alcoholic beverages and sat down opposite him.
"Glad to see you can read between the lines, Malfoy."
Draco seized him up suspiciously.
"I guess I know where you're coming from, Mr Nott, but what I can't comprehend is how this situation would be beneficial to you. Wouldn't it be better to kidnap me and meet here with Theo?"
Nott laughed huskily.
"And would my son forgive me for kidnapping his friend?"
"And will he forgive you for, you know, kidnapping him?" retorted Draco.
"He's one of those… peculiar people who put others before themselves."
"What a surprise that you take it as a weakness."
"It is a weakness, Malfoy. You're here after all, aren't you?"
Draco didn't put his guard down for even a second. That's what he was good at. Keeping a straight face, distancing himself from his emotions and not losing control easily. That was what was going to help Theo.
"I'm here because it's obvious what you want to do."
"Oh, is it?" smiled Nott mischievously.
"Yes. You need that information, and as you've mentioned before, whatever your misguided intentions are, you care about your son. You want information, but to make sure it's reliable, you asked Theo first. Now you're asking me. If it is consistent, you'll let me see Theo or maybe even release him, depending on what you were doing to him in the first place."
"You're a cunning little creature, aren't you?"
"Don't we have this in common?"
Nott laughed again.
"I suppose we do. And I'm sure you realise we have to move to another location. I still can't trust you, and this is definitely not the right place to exchange information. A deranged wizard lurking in every corner."
"Where are we going, then?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Hermione almost jumped from her seat the moment they heard a pop.
"We're prepared," Harry said calmly.
"Prepared?! We have to go. Now."
"Here," he took something out of his pocket, and his eyes lit up. "It's working!"
"What's working?"
"Just a work in progress. But since we did predict Nott would move them somewhere else, I thought we'd take it for a test run."
"What is it?" asked Hermione, more and more irritated by the second.
"It's a… another gadget. It helps us track a wizard. You know, like a GPS. I was actually inspired by Ron's Illuminator. It's what gave me an idea on how to construct it."
"You're saying you build it yourself? With or without George's help?"
Harry looked at her as if she was an idiot.
"Okay, I'm brilliant, but not that brilliant. I had help. One of our backups is a tech enthusiast. I didn't tell you because… you won't like it."
Hermione sighed heavily with great annoyance.
"Who. Is. It."
"…McLaggen."
"What?!"
"Now, 'Mione. Let's not get carried away. Zabini is coming. We need to apparate at least a mile from the place they apparated. Hopefully, it's not a big meadow."
"Wait, hopefully?" Hermione asked, but Blaise was already there, and Harry took their hands. Before she could add anything else, they apparated.
Luckily, they were not in a meadow. If Hermione had more time and wasn't terrified for Draco, she'd give Harry a piece of her mind. Using untested devices designed by McLaggen, who had zero knowledge of Muggle technology, and on a mission! As if inviting three unqualified and untrained (no matter how helpful) people on a mission was not enough. She scoffed but nevertheless started casting protective enchantments around. They were in a forest. They had gone a bit to the north, probably since it was colder than in the city. And there was snow. Real snow, not that wet ice mixed with dirt or whatever it was, back in London.
"Over there," pointed Harry, and all three of them followed his directions.
Finally, they approached a lake. There was a house just at the shore – Nott must've taken Draco in there. They sneaked in as close as they could, and luckily, a moment later, they heard the cracking of the comms device and heard voices.
"Potter is on a mission to take out the last of Death Eaters. I don't know the specifics, but it seems he's getting close. Weasley's out of the game, but I suppose you know that, it was all over the news. Granger's probably in on it, too, but since the divorce thing she's barely been seen outside of the office, so I doubt that'll change."
For some unexplained reason, it hurt her. But that was stupid, wasn't it? He was supposed to say it. All of it was practised beforehand. Besides, it's not like it wasn't true…
"Do they know who's behind it?"
"I reckon they suspect it. Don't know if they have a source or if they just go down the list of former Death Eaters."
"You work at the Ministry," said Nott suspiciously.
"I do. Why else would I even have this information? I heard some things. Did you know Granger's making me do evaluations each month? She's keeping a close eye on me, so I'm risking it a lot by being here."
"How do I know you're not giving them information?"
Draco laughed. If Hermione didn't know the actual plan, she would've been absolutely convinced. And it's not like she can be easily fooled.
"And what would I gain from this, Nott? They hate me. First of all, they never would've trusted me. And second of all, I barely know anything about your little association here."
"But you know I'm here."
"I thought you weren't stupid, Nott, but today you just keep proving me wrong. On what grounds could they have assumed that you're not one of them? I don't know anything else. You apparated me into a house that's barely standing. We're in the middle of the woods, Merlin knows where. I haven't seen anyone else. Theo knows nothing. Blaise knows nothing. My parents know nothing. I know nothing."
For a minute, there was silence. Blaise shifted uncomfortably, but Harry and Hermione didn't lose focus for a second.
"Very well," Nott said after a minute. "Now, to the most important part. Tell me how to kill the Minister."
Hermione's heart started racing. Harry took her hand almost automatically. Blaise stared at her with round eyes.
The line was silent.
A moment later, Draco cleared his throat.
"What will you gain from this?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.
Nott snorted.
"She's a mudblood. It's a disgrace for wizardkind to have such a Minister."
"Yeah, but since the war, no one else really cares. And what did you get from killing Shacklebolt? Literally nothing, maybe apart from a literal hunt after your little gang."
"I'm sorry. Are you here to give me information and get Theo back, or are you here to question my decisions which are none of your concern?"
Draco sighed.
"Her weak points are her friends, but you know that."
"Yes. I'm talking technical. As you've said, she barely leaves her office. There must be some way to get in."
"She has every possible alarm-triggering protection," he replied, a little weary. "Unless you get her out in the open, I don't see a chance for you."
"You mean we use her friends to get her outside?"
A moment of hesitation.
"Yes."
"Which one will be easiest to get?"
"Weasley, of course. I'm genuinely disappointed you didn't know that."
"But aren't they divorced?"
"So what? It doesn't mean she doesn't love him."
Hermione had to congratulate herself for keeping a straight face throughout this day – but this…? This was too much. She frowned and bit her lip, hoping she was able to swallow the tears. She could feel the boys' gaze on her but didn't dare to look at either of them.
"These people are weird," summed up Nott.
"Tell me about it," muttered Draco.
"All right then. Lure Weasley out. Shouldn't be hard. Works in that ridiculous shop now, doesn't he?"
"Yup."
"Great. A commotion on Diagon Alley, a little hostage situation. That should do it. Thank you for your help, Draco."
"Draco suddenly, huh?"
"Well, now that your answers matched Theo's, I'm… maybe not certain, but definitely more sure about trusting you. You'd fit well in here, you know."
A moment of silence.
"As much as inviting the idea of getting revenge on Potter and the rest of them is, I think what happened to my father is a strong enough argument against my joining."
"Shame," responded Nott and Hermione could almost see him shrugging. "But as long as we can have you as an informant… I think we can let you go. After all, Ministry information is more than priceless for us."
"You can count on me. But, you know, with some common sense, yeah? Not every other day," said Draco with a nervous laugh.
"For now, you're free to go. Theo will be released. He'll apparate in front of the restaurant. We need to make plans. I trust you can apparate yourself back?"
"Of course."
A moment later, they heard a pop, meaning Draco apparated himself back. All three of them looked at each other as if to make sure it was the right move and apparated back. They quickly made their way to the restaurant, where Draco was already waiting.
When he looked at her, Hermione's heart skipped a beat.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked, ignoring Blaise, who decided to hug him as if he barely made it.
"Yeah. I'm – er – I'm sorry about-"
"It's okay," she said quickly. "That's what we prepared. It's okay."
They had to wait a few minutes, but luckily, soon Theo also apparated. Blaise made a weird noise and threw himself at him, immediately pulling him into a heated kiss.
They broke apart only after a young wizard in a black cape called out: "ew".
Then, chaos ensued. Harry had to stop both Theo and Blaise from cursing his homophobic ass. Seeing both of them detained, the young wizard decided it was a good idea to shoot them a smug look – wrong choice. Seconds later, he tripped, and some invisible force pulled him to the ground.
"Ouch!"
Draco glanced at Hermione meaningfully.
"Clumsy, isn't he?"
"Oh, yes. I'd watch my step if I were him, no?"
They shared mischievous smiles.
"You sure you're okay?" asked Hermione, drawing him away from the commotion and Harry, who was trying to explain to Blaise and Theo that they couldn't just punch people, even if they were rude. Zabini wanted to know why exactly. Harry couldn't find an explanation.
"I should be the one asking this," answered Draco, looking her up and down as if searching for any wounds. "I basically just arranged an assassination on you."
"Yes, well, we didn't exactly predict that, but… You followed the plan. You did well. We're going to deal with it."
"I'll help."
She looked at him with surprise, but before she could utter a response, Blaise threw his arms around both Hermione and Draco, and bellowed:
"Well, now, that's finished, we need a celebration! Un celebración. Le célébration."
"I'm going to pretend you haven't just massacred Spanish and French in one sentence, but still. We shouldn't exactly be seen together. Especially not now," noticed Hermione.
"There's this little thing called 'house party', my dear Madame Minister. A house bash. Both Theo and I will be happy to host it. We live opposite the park, so there will be no problem to apparate there and come in unseen."
"I don't know, I-"
"Hey, Drakey and I just helped to plan your assassination! The least we can do is buy you some wine and force you to get drunk. I've heard you don't leave your office that often," said Theo with a speculative glare.
"Ugh, okay," Hermione groaned. "It's against my better judgement, though. And Harry's coming."
"No, he's not," replied Harry, grinning. "He's got a pregnant wife, and he'd very much like to be away from her ever-changing moods, but that's not what a good husband does."
"Harry..."
"Sorry, 'Mione. Have fun with this… Questionable company."
"Harry-"
He disapparated.
"Great," she sighed.
"Don't worry," comforted her Theo. "We'll ask Pansy to hang out."
She glared at them.
"Pansy?" she asked through the gritted teeth.
"Oh, right. I forgot about your thing. But… maybe you could patch things up?" Nott asked, smiling hopefully.
"How much alcohol are we talking about?"
"Lots. And we'll allow you one more thing. You can bring Luna."