Author's Notes:
Here's Chapter 118 for you!
This is the fourth of the short eight Christmas themed chapters coming this summer. I absolutely loved writing this chapter. It's nice to write from other characters point of view for a change.
Love DW
PS Enjoy x
Alphard Vale's B-team touches down in a field, wands drawn at the ready, at eight o'clock, having had a quick briefing at the Ministry. No one is around, neither Death Eater nor Muggle. Harry lowers his wand, scanning his surroundings. He's stood in a rectangular field, in the centre is a fenced off circle with a few trees and a large boulder, up the small hill at the back of the field is what looks like a derelict house from the middle-ages.
"Peters, Blackwood, check out those ruins." Vale orders. The two aurors do as they're instructed, disapparating only to reappear at the ruins, less than a hundred meters away.
Harry is already walking over to the boulder where he finds two gravestones. One in English and one in Welsh, as he reads the myth of Gelert's grave, he assumes the Welsh gravestone is the original translation of the myth. His mentor, Vale, joins him as he finishes reading.
"It's all here," he explains. "The myth explains the grave of the hound."
"I've sent Perry and Houston to the east end of the village. They're going to search for secluded areas where it would be easy for twenty-four people to meet discreetly." He explains.
"Boss, there's this brass dog statue in there, but nothing else," Blackwood tells them.
"You and Peters, start in the west end of the village," he instructs them, and once again they disapparate away.
"Where do you want me?" Harry asks.
"We're going into the village, ask the residence if they remember seeing anything suspicious over the past few months," Vale tells him.
"Are we splitting up?" Harry asks.
"I'm going to take the north of the river; you take the south. Go inside the pubs and restaurants, speak to the staff and locals," Vale says.
Harry apparates onto a bridge in the middle of the village, joining the north and south side together. He follows the road down towards a pub on the south side. Before he enters, he transfigures his Auror robes into a long winter coat and hides his wand in the pocket.
"Hi, how are you?" A smartly dressed man greets him at the front desk. "Are you wanting a table?"
"I'm actually here to ask some questions, are you the owner or manager?" Harry asks.
The man stands up, offering his hand, "I'm the manager, Robert Jones. Are you with the police?" He asks curiously.
Harry shakes his hand, "Yes, I am." He smiles. "Would I be able to ask your staff and patrons some questions about recent activity here in Beddgelert?"
"What this about? We're only a small village, there's not even four-hundred of us living here." The manager explains.
"We have reason to believe a criminal group has been meeting within the village to plan their crimes." Harry informs the man vaguely.
"What crimes? Is this a drug thing?" He asks.
"I'm not at liberty to disclose that information, sir?" Harry states. "Have you seen any suspicious activity? Our sources place the last meeting occurring about three months ago."
The man frowns, "Three months ago, September. Yeah there was something," he starts, eyes staring unfocused above Harry's head. "There was something happening over by the mountain. We assumed it was a group of teenagers or young people in general. We're a popular tourist destination, usually for couples or small groups that like hiking in the country. Sometimes, we do get the odd wedding party or groups of students that want to get away for the weekend." The man explains.
"Can you talk me through everything you remember about this incident?" Harry takes a notepad and biro pen out of his pocket.
"Yeah, come into the bar." He leads Harry to a two-person table. "Do you want a drink?" He offers.
"Sure, I'll have a coke please?" Harry orders.
"Samuel, can you get this policeman a coke, then watch the front desk while we talk?" Robert Jones asks his barman.
"Policeman?" Samuel stares at Harry.
"Detective," Harry clarifies.
"Oh, right," Samuel pours him half a pint of coke then leaves for the front desk.
"So, what do you want to know?" The manager asks.
"If you could start with when you first noticed something strange happening," Harry opens his notepad and takes a drink of his coke.
"It was late on a Friday night. We had finished closing the bar and restaurant, everyone had gone home and I was finishing the finances. I locked everything away in the safe and left. As I was locking the front door, I heard lightning echoing around the valley, at least I thought it was lightning, but there was no light, it was just the sound, and there was no thunder. I stopped and listened for about five minutes, and there was this glow from the base of the mountain, it was kind of ethereal, not at all like lightning. I don't know how many times it happened but if I had to guess, no more than thirty. It was definitely spooky." He admits.
"What time was this?" Harry asks, pen scribbling away as he listens.
"Must have been about half-past eleven on the Friday night," Robert Jones answers.
Harry nods, "Did you see anyone acting suspiciously at the time, or perhaps another person who witnessed these sounds?"
Robert Jones shakes his head, "I didn't see anyone. After I hadn't heard anything for a while, I questioned my own sanity and went home. I live up in the village and this lightning was from down near the mountain. I heard one more cracking noise as I got home, about ten minutes after the last ones. I paused on my doorstep, but when I didn't hear anything else, I went to bed. I haven't heard anything like that since that night." He finishes.
"This is very useful information, thank you. Just one more question, do you know any place in the east part of the village were a group of say, twenty people could meet in secret?" Harry asks.
"We live in a valley at the base of a mountain, sir. There'll be hundreds of hiding places that end of the village." He explains.
"Well thank you for your time, Mr Jones," Harry stands, finishing the last of his coke. "You've been very helpful."
Robert Jones walks him to the door, shaking his hand once again as he leaves. Outside, Harry sits at one of the benches to check his notes. Mr Jones had described the sound as a cracking and like lightning. Harry had the same thought when he had first heard the sound of disapparation. Mr Jones had also mentioned that noise echoed around the village, Harry had never been very good at science when he attended his Muggle primary school, but he knew sound needed something to vibrate off in order to echo, or something like that, so the Death Eaters must have being meeting in the valley.
Proud with his research, Harry walks through the village, eastwards towards the mountain. He comes across a gate leading into a field with a sign informing him the path leads to Gelert's grave. Harry carries on, crossing a thin bridge over one of the villages rivers and coming to three paths leading off in different directions. The one to the right seems to follow the river out of the village. He assumes the meeting of the clocks would be held out of the Muggle community, so follows the right path.
Ten minutes later, he's still following the path but he has left the village behind and is walking beside a forested area. He scans trees as he walks, looking for a clearing of some sort but has so far been unsuccessful. Five minutes later, a firework explodes in the skies over the forest behind him. The firework is green, an Aurors call to attention without signalling the need for urgent help. Someone must have found something.
Harry disapparates to the location of the firework, noticing the crack his magic makes as he appears in a clearing. Perry, Houston, Blackwood and Peters are already there staring around the clearing in disbelief. Harry spins on the spot, taking in the eight wooden log benches, set up in a circle in the clearing, completely surrounded by trees. There's no wonder how he missed it as he walked past, he can barely see through the forest to the river, but he can hear the water rushing by.
"There's space for three people per log bench," Houston comments.
"Twenty-four," Peters quickly does the maths.
"This has got to be the place, right?" Perry ask, her eyes flittering around.
"It's got to be," Houston agrees.
"Where's Vale?" Blackwood questions.
"He's probably still questioning one of the bars in the village," Harry suggests.
Houston scoffs, "Yeah, sure, questioning," he mutters.
"Should we wait for him, or-?" Blackwood asks.
"No, we start scanning the area." Harry tells them. "Blackwood and Peters, check the log benches thoroughly. Houston, check for foot traffic in the clearing. Perry, can you scan the trees for any traces of magic? Disapparation leaves a magic in the air, and in a clearing that is this densely surrounded, there's got to be some evidence. I'm going to scan for any other evidence they might have left." He gives out orders, taking the roll of leader in the absence of their mentor, since this mission was so important to him and his friends, and despite being the second newest Auror graduate, after Blackwood, his fellow Aurors listen and set off on their tasks.
The investigation doesn't take long with their wands and specialised spells.
"I've got something," Perry calls out from up a tree. "There are months of magic build up on the underside of the leaves facing the clearing." She explains. "Without having a closer look back in the laboratories, I would guess it started ten months ago, and the last would align with the prophecy in September." She jumps down from the tree.
"Great work, anyone else?" Harry asks.
"We have wool fibres over here. Multiple samples on difference benches but they are all consistent with our wool, the type Madam Malkins uses." Peters announces.
"There's no foot traffic outside of the centre of the clearing, which I expected to find since we're working off the theory the DE apparated into the clearing, but I did find this here." Houston beckons his colleagues, pointing at something near the centre of the clearing.
"It looks like ash," Perry comments.
"Collect a sample," Harry tells Houston. "I'm not sure what else we can do now. It seems the DE were meeting here from, when February until September?" He looks at Perry, who nods. "All the evidence points to this being their meeting place, but it doesn't help us find where they're meeting now."
"So, this would have been the place they organised the Valentine's Day attack on Hogwarts?" Blackwood mentions.
"Merlin, you're right!" Houston agrees.
"We'll be able to use this against Scrutor and Initio in an interrogation, won't we?" Blackwood suggests.
"Yeah, we can monitor their reactions when we ask them about this place. Should I take some pictures?" Peters asks.
"It won't hurt," Harry nods, raising his wand to the sky and shooting a green firework up, calling for Vale to join them.
Immediately, Vale apparates into the clearing, taking in the area.
"This is the meeting of the clocks," Harry states confidently.
"Are you sure?" Vale questions, looking unimpressed.
"Yes, we have various samples to take back to the laboratories, and we've scanned the area for magic and the evidence is all in our favour. This is the place." Harry answers.
"Peters, what are you doing?" Vale turns to the man, flashing a camera at the clearing from different angles.
"Taking pictures," he answers obviously.
"For use in interrogations with Scrutor and Initio," Harry states. "I also have a witness statement from the manager of a pub on the south side, a Robert Jones. He heard multiple apparations back in September." He adds.
"Good work, B-team head back to our offices and write up your reports." He checks his watch. "It's ten o'clock, when they're on my desk, you can go home." Vale announces, then disapparates away.
Houston sighs, "Another late night." He disapparates back to the Ministry
The rest of the B-team follow behind him.
"Think of the overtime pay," Perry smiles, as they enter the lift, riding up to their second-floor offices.
"Overtime pay doesn't make up for the time I'm missing with my family," he complains, walking over to his desk and slouching down in his chair, quill in hand ready to fill out his report.
"I hear you; James has stopped asking where I am when I'm not there to take him to bed." Harry sighs, walking to his own desk.
The five of them all sat in the same area, as the B-team of the Auror department. There five teams that sat together, A through E teams, with other Aurors' desks scattered around the office. This late at night, there were a few other Auror's still at their desk, but the majority of their colleagues would be home with their families.
"Where do you think he's gone, cause he's not here helping, not that he actually helped in the investigation?" Peters asks. "How did he get promoted to middle management?" He wonders.
Harry takes out his notes, ready to transfer them to his official report when Vale enters their offices.
"Potter, I want a briefing with you after you've finished your report." He states, entering his office and slamming the door shut.
"Great," Harry mutters, continuing with his report until he realises, he should have asked Robert Jones for his address in case he needed to question him further. He groans, throwing his head back.
"What's up?" Perry asks, not looking up from her own report.
"I didn't get my witnesses address." He admits.
His teammates laugh, "Rookie mistake, Potter." Peters comments.
"I better go, if Vale asks, tell him for me." Harry grabs his cloak, leaving the office for the disapparation floor where he apparates to an alley beside Robert Jones' pub.
He walks through the door to find Samuel still sat at the front.
"You didn't pay for your drink," he states as a greeting.
"Ah, sorry, here," Harry hands over a five-pound note. "Keep the change as a tip."
"Thanks," Samuel looks at him oddly.
"Is Robert Jones still here?" He asks.
"Yeah, he's in the back, just knock on the door that says 'Private, No Entry'." Samuel gestures vaguely to the back of the pub.
Harry knocks on the door. Robert Jones opens the door, looking him expectantly.
"Mr Jones, sorry to bother you again, I just need to take note of your address in case we have any more questions for you," he explains, notepad poised.
"What? Who are you?" Robert peers out of the door towards Samuel. "Samuel, who's this?"
Samuel stares back at him, "It's that detective that was here about two hours ago." He looks awkwardly at Harry.
"What are you on about?"
"Are you feeling well, sir?" Harry asks, dubiously.
"I'm fine, but I've never met you before in my life. Now if you don't mind, I've got a mountain of work to do." Mr Jones shuts the door in his face.
Harry walks back to Samuel.
"I don't know what's wrong with him, you were here just over two hours ago," Samuel shrugs.
"Has anyone visited him since I left?" Harry asks.
"A few locals came in, then this weird man came in. They talked in his office for five minutes then he left. Robert hadn't come out since. That was about half an hour ago." He answers.
"Half an hour ago?"
"Yeah, about ten o'clock," Samuel shrugs.
"Ten o'clock," he repeats as a disturbing thought enters his mind, sending a shiver down his back. "Was he tall, about six-foot, wide shoulders, dark hair and eyes?" He asks.
"Sounds like him," Samuel nods. "He was kind of dressed like you," he looks Harry up and down.
Harry glances down, realising he hadn't transfigured his cloak or robes before entering the second time, but that confirms his theory that it was Vale who had visited his witness.
Harry leaves the pub, falling onto the same bench he had occupied outside earlier. Robert Jones didn't recognise him, had Vale obliviated him? It didn't make sense. Of course, it makes sense. Except, it can't. Vale is Harry's mentor. The man supported him through his training and personally requested Harry for his B-team when he graduated from Auror training. Was it an excuse to keep him close? Did he actually deserve his position on the B-team, or was it another case of Harry Potter being given everything he wanted? Vale can't be the mole, can he? Vale had been in some way responsible for the previous two Death Eaters escaping. Had his injuries been self-inflicted to allow his fellow Death Eaters to escape?
Harry had too many questions running through his head, but he needed to get back to the Ministry before Vale noticed he was missing and his teammates told him where he was, as he had asked them. He runs to the alley, disapparating to the Ministry and racing up two flights of stairs to his office, and back to his desk.
"Did he notice I was gone?" Harry leans across his desk to whisper to his three remaining teammates, since Houston had already gone home.
"No, he hasn't left his office since he got back." Houston tells him.
"If he asks, I was here the whole time, I never left," he states seriously.
His four teammates look up at him curiously.
"Are you okay?" Perry asks.
Harry bites his tongue, nodding. He can't tell them until he knows for certain himself. He needs actual evidence, not just his hunch. He leans back in his chair, picking up his pen and finishing his report within the hour.
He knocks on Vale's office door, entering when the man calls for him.
"I've finished the report," he places it atop the others. "You wanted a briefing?" He stands opposite the desk.
"Take a seat," Vale gestures and Harry sits. "Great work out there, Potter, you really used your initiative. I read in Houston's report that you took lead in my absence. Is management something you would be interested in?" He leans back.
"I want to be Head of the department," he states truthfully.
Vale smiles, "You've got plans then."
"There's definitely areas where I think the Auror department can improve," he shrugs.
"In that case, I think you should enrol on an eighteen-month management training course in January. I know you've only graduated in July, but I think it would be good for you." Vale says. "You'll have two years under your belt when you're done and you'll be given your own team or you could assist in mentoring trainees."
Harry can't believe what he hearing. It's far to early in his career. Was Vale attempting to placate him by offering him exactly what he wanted? "I think it might be too soon, if I'm honest. It's definitely something I'll be interested in pursuing in the future, though." Harry explains.
"Are you sure, Potter? It's a great opportunity." Vale tries to convince him.
"I'm sure it is, but I'm already away from home for too long. I want to settle into my current role before I pursue the next, thank you for the suggestion though. Is that all, I would like to go home?" He asks.
"That is all," Vale nods, picking up Harry's report.
Harry leaves, collects his belongings and practically runs from the office. He doesn't have the patience to wait for the lift, so he races down the stairs, two at a time to the floo floor.
He steps out into his living room just after midnight, surprised to find Hermione and Draco asleep on his couch, wrapped in a blanket, with Scorpius asleep in a cot beside them. On the coffee table are two half drunk cups of teas. Harry silently collects the cups, taking them into the kitchen, setting them to wash themselves. He makes himself a slice of bread and butter before heading upstairs.
Ginny would wake him up at five o'clock, like she did every morning when she had early training, and he would fill them in on everything in the morning.
When morning arrives, Ginny wakes Harry up, as usual, as she slides draws open and shut, and slams the wardrobe doors.
"Morning," Harry yawns, stretching his joints.
"When did you get in?" She asks, leaning down for a kiss that's far too passionate for morning breath.
"Just after midnight," he answers breathlessly. "Hermione and Draco were asleep so I left them." He admits.
Ginny remembers and jumps on the bed, "Were they right? Is this Welsh village where they were meeting?"
"It seems like it," Harry's face falls. He rubs his eyes as the stress and realisation from yesterday comes to the forefront of his mind.
"What happened?" She asks, crossing her arms to let him know she isn't going anywhere until he tells her.
"You know that mole Draco thinks we have in the department?"
"Yeah, you've been trying to get permission to investigate," she adds, proving that she does listen when he complains about work to her.
"Well, I think I know who the mole is, and they're high up." He sighs.
"Who?" Ginny asks, wide-eyed.
"I don't want to say. I need to investigate more before I can be completely sure, but I'm seventy-percent confident right now." He admits, throwing the duvet off himself.
Ginny climbs off the bed, taking Harry's face into her hands. "Don't work yourself too hard," she stares at him unblinkingly, presses a kiss to his lips then leaves to wake up the children.
Harry dresses the joins his family in their second bedroom. It was barely big enough for two children's bed, let alone the wardrobe and toy boxes. He'd been putting off thinking about where they were going to live when they moved out of the Estates. Grimmauld Place was his to do with as he pleased, but with all the memories of his dead friends and family being connected to the house, he wasn't sure it was somewhere he would want to raise his children. He hadn't even been back to the house since August 1998, when he lived there during the Summer holiday before his return to Hogwarts.
"Daddy!" James cries, bouncing on his bed.
"Hi Jamesy," he catches his son mid-bounce. "Shall we let mummy get ready for work? Hermione and Draco are downstairs."
"Draco," Teddy cheers from beneath his duvet covers.
Harry laughs as he walks downstairs with James in his arms, an eager Teddy trying to race past him. When they reach the living room, Harry place James on a sleeping Hermione's lap while Teddy take a running jump at Draco.
"Oof," Draco wakes up to a knee in his stomach. He opens his eyes to find Teddy staring at him, his dark brown hair shifting to blonde as he giggles.
"Hi James," Hermione smile greeting her godson on her lap.
"What Draco doing here?" Teddy asks.
"Waiting for Harry," he answers, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What time is it?" He asks, looking at the man.
"Half-five," he answers. "Gin's got to be at training by half-past six. She's going to drop the kids off at the Burrow at six so we'll talk then." He explains. "Do either of you want some breakfast?" He asks.
"I'll just have a cup of tea," Draco stands up, Teddy thrown over his shoulder, still laughing.
"If you've got bread, I'll have some toast, please," Hermione smiles at her friend as she checks on her son.
Scorpius had woken up around eleven o'clock for a feed, but she hadn't heard him wake during the night after that. She doesn't know when she and Draco fell asleep, but this would be the longest Scorpius had slept through the night, almost six hours. She wakes her son up gently.
"Hello," James waves at Scorpius as opens his eyes.
"I'll take him," Ginny opens her arms for her own son. "Come on, breakfast time for James." She takes him into the kitchen.
Hermione picks Scorpius up, gently inspecting his gum. They looked a little sore around the area where his first tooth was wanting to push through. She applies some more gel before joining everyone in the kitchen.
Draco is sat at the table with a cup of tea while Teddy sits on his lap, chewing on a slice of toast with jam. Hermione takes the seat beside him, next to James in his highchair.
"Is Andromeda well?" Hermione asks.
"Yeah, she's on holiday in Italy," Harry explains, placing a plate of toast in front of Hermione, with a cup of tea.
"Thanks," she smiles appreciatively. "Why Italy?"
"Apparently it's somewhere Ted promised to take her but they never got around to it, so she's decided to go by herself and honour his memory." Ginny explains, eating her own breakfast.
"Yeah, we've got Teddy for another five days," Harry ruffles his godson's blond hair, joining everyone at the table.
"This is the first time we've sat down together in months," Ginny announces. "It's nice." She smiles at Hermione. "I feel like I hardly ever see you anymore."
"I know, who knew being an actual adult would keep us this busy." Hermione jokes. "We might have thought we were practically adults during our last years of Hogwarts, and we definitely matured a lot over the years, but we weren't quite adults. Now we have kids, a house, jobs, it's a lot." She kisses the top of Scorpius' head.
"It's pretty great though, isn't it? I wasn't ever sure I would make it this far," Harry admits.
"I was confident I wouldn't," Draco interjects.
"Well I love how far we've all come, I'm proud of us." Hermione raises her tea.
Ginny rolls her eyes but raises her cup of coffee. The two men join them and they cheer their drinks, laughing when Teddy joins in with his beaker of milk.
When Teddy finishes, Ginny checks her watch and jumps up, "We've got ten minutes," she curses, downing the remains of her coffee and collecting her two boys to carry upstairs.
"I'm going to help Gin dress and wash the boys," Harry leaves them.
"He's not said anything yet," Draco notes.
"He's just waiting for Ginny to take Teddy and James to the Burrow. Teddy's old enough to pick up on the conversations going on around him." Hermione tells him.
Ten minutes later, Ginny is bidding them goodbye as she floos with Teddy and James to the Burrow, ready for her day of training. As soon as they've gone, Harry joins them back at the kitchen table with a second cup of tea.
"Right," he sighs, his mask of relaxed father falling form his face. "Where to begin?"
"Beddgelert, is it the meeting place?" Draco asks.
"Yes, I'm confident it is. All evidence points to it but the laboratories will need to confirm some of the evidence we gathered." Harry nods.
Hermione takes Draco's free hand beneath the table, nervously. "What evidence was there?"
"We found a clearing. There were wool fibres, we think from cloaks, there was a small pile of ash, and there was evidence of apparation on the trees in the clearing." Harry lists. "We also had a witness to that night, the night of the prophecy. He heard lightning cracking repeatedly for about five minutes. But there were no flashes of light, and there was no thunder." He adds.
"Apparation," Hermione states.
"What do you mean by you 'had a witness'?" Draco asks, not missing the tense.
"I'm going to tell you, but you can't do anything about this until I've got my head around it and figured out what I'm going to do about it, okay?" Harry states.
"Harry, what's going on?" Hermione asks nervously, her voice betraying her panic as she tightens her grip on Draco's hand.
"I spoke to this man, my witness, around half-past eight last night, but I forgot to take his address in case I needed to ask follow-up questions. I went back around half-past ten and he didn't know who I was, or what I was talking about. His barman remembered me; he said a weird man in a cloak asked to see him at ten o'clock." Harry explains.
"He was obliviated?" Hermione asks in horror. "Was there any evidence of Death Eaters being nearby?" She asks.
"I was suspicious, I had told Vale about my witness, I gave him his name. Vale hadn't followed us back to the Ministry. He apparated somewhere else. He didn't return to the Ministry until about quarter-past ten." Harry continues.
"You think you mentor obliviated him?" Draco frowns.
"I think Alphard Vale might be the mole within the Auror department," Harry reveals for the first time, aloud. "I've been privately investigating the Auror department after you mentioned we might have a mole. I've tried bringing my case file to the heads of the department but they won't entertain the thought, and Kingsley isn't letting me anywhere near him at the moment." He clarifies.
"Why would Vale be allowing Death Eaters to escape?" Hermione asks, then gasps. "No, you don't think?"
Harry grimaces.
"You think Alphard Vale, your mentor, an Auror, is a Death Eater," Draco asks, disbelieving the notion.
"There's more, case files are going missing, evidence is being misplaced, witnesses are recounting their statements, or forgetting their statements. We were working off the impression that Death Eaters had eyes and ears everywhere and were figuring out who the witnesses to specific cases were and are intimidating them. What if it is an inside job? What if this is a Death Eaters doing because Vale is a Death Eater?" Harry frantically says, voice quiet as though there might be someone listening.
"How sure are you?" Draco asks.
"Seventy-percent," Harry says. "But I need to actually looking to everything. I need, I don't know what I need to do. How do I know who I can talk to about this?" He asks.
"You can talk to us," Hermione reaches across the table for her friend's hand. "This is bigger than us, we aren't going to do anything to jeopardise your work." She looks at Draco.
"As long as you keep us informed, I'll behave." He promises.
"Of course, I will," Harry pauses. "He was at St Mungo's, the day of the prophecy. There was an uprising in Derbyshire. What was he even doing there in the first place?"
"Someone at St Mungo's leaked information about Scorpius to the Daily Prophet." Draco reminds them.
Harry groans, standing up and collecting their dishes. "This is too much. Why am I in the middle of another conspiracy?" He complains, setting the sink to wash. "Okay," he claps his hand. "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to work, I'm going to go over all my case files since I became an auror, looking for anything suspicious within the Auror department. I'm going to keep an eye on Vale. I'm going to make a list of people who I can trust to help." He tells them his plan.
"I hope that is a short list. We can't involve too many people." Draco tells him.
"I trust Arthur, Percy…" he stops. "Maybe Alexander Vyner in the archives." He adds
"I'm not sure about him." Hermione shakes her head.
"He loves his job and hates Death Eaters and those who put his job at risk. If I find evidence of Vale messing with his archives, he'll join." Harry nods.
"Join what, Harry?" Hermione snaps. "We're not creating anti-Ministry group. This isn't fifth year, we're not students any more, this is so much more dangerous now. We can be sent to Azkaban for treason. We have children to think about. I want to take Vale, and all these Death Eaters down as much as you, but you need to promise me you'll think about your family." She stands up.
"I promise, Hermione. I'm not going to restore the DA." He tells her.
"Thank you," she sighs in relief. "Draco, we should go home and change. We promised Pansy and Minerva we'd stop by Hogwarts at lunchtime today." She reminds him, leaving to collect their belonging.
"I forgot," Draco sighs, standing up, waiting for the kitchen door to close. "Harry," he hisses, stepping closer to the man. "This group you are definitely not creating sounds a lot more like the Order than your little study group in fifth year. If you were to restore that, count me in. Don't tell Hermione, but I want this over. I want the Death Eaters gone, for good this time, and by any means necessary." He finishes and Harry nods once, eyes-wide in understanding.
The two men join Hermione in the front room.
"I have to be at work for seven," Harry mentions checking his watch. "Ginny was right, this was nice, we should have breakfast together more often. Just, maybe not at six in the morning." He smiles.
"Or we could do dinner, invite Ron and Pansy around?" Hermione suggests. "We can organise something in the new year." She adds, remembering how busy they were going to be the next couple of weeks over the Christmas holiday.
Harry walks them to his front door, waving them goodbye as they walk towards the next street, where they live. Back at their own house, Hermione takes Scorpius straight upstairs for a bath, leaving Draco to lounge in the front room with his many thoughts on the events of last night and that morning. He smiles, feeling a relief that something is finally being done, and now it had stated, Draco wasn't going to let it stop until every last Death Eater, and their new Dark Lord, had been taken down.
You should follow me on Instagram (delilah . wise) to find out when the next chapter will be uploaded.
I'm going to post pictures I took last year of the secluded clearing surrounded by trees that I found and decided was the perfect place for the meeting of the clocks, it even has the eight log benches.
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