Look, Ron, Hermione never wanted us on her birthday, not since the war." Ginny clearly did not want to excuse her brother for moping more intensely on Hermione's birthday than on other days.
"She sent back my present." Ron sat on the sofa, his face in his hands. "Why does it take so bloody long for the effect of that damn potion to wear off."
"You just have to be patient," Harry told Ron.
"You can talk, Harry," Ron snapped. "You and Ginny…" He did not finish the sentence and hung his head.
"Sorry," he said. "I try not to be a jealous bastard."
Harry laid his hand on Ron's shoulder. "I know, Ron." His eyes met Ginny's and they came to a silent understanding. Harry nodded.
"Look Ron, we'll fetch George and do some flying. That will cheer you up." Ginny suggested.
"And I'll quiz Professor Slughorn again. He must have some idea on when this bloody amortentia is going to wear off." Not that Harry expected to get new insight, not really. The hope in Ron's face hurt. But it would mean that Ginny and her brothers would have a tolerable afternoon with Ron. Flying always put his friend in a good mood.
Harry flood to Hogwarts. Like the last time, he had been in Hogwarts, he went to the library. Just to calm his conscience, he would search another section for Malfoy's notes. Not that he really expected to find them, but whenever Hermione snapped out of her amortentia induced infatuation with Malfoy he wanted to have the moral upper hand. He pictured himself telling her in a calm voice, that he had really looked everywhere.
Today he searched the section about Magical creatures. It was not the most heavily used section of the Hogwarts Library. If Harry had to hide a book, he would hide it here and then scatter dust, so that it would look like no one had touched that shelf in decades. He started with the left upmost shelf and systematically worked his way through the room. He waved his wand to get rid of the dust after he had sneezed the third time in a row. Sometimes he was distracted by the illuminations in the old tomes. Some of them looked like medieval muggle manuscripts, and Harry was sure, that some of these creatures were as fantastical as their muggle counterparts. He came across a book on magical creatures in India and there was even one page on occamies. Harry wondered why it was alongside elaborate illuminations that sported women in laced dresses and jewellry. He remembered that Luna had told him that every book on magical beasts before Newt Scamander could be considered highly unreliable.
When he reached the shelf with books on house elves, he was already tired of dusty old tomes. In one book he found a small paper that held Hermione's handwriting. Of course, she had not defiled the book by writing into the margins, but she obviously had not abstained from making her strong opinions known, in the unlikely case anyone else but her would read the book.
Making house elves care for small wizarding children is a very clever move to perpetuate their attachment to the families, he read. The elves cannot help but come to love the small helpless children. But when they grow older the children are expected to distance themselves from their former nurses. Older children and adult wizards and witches are discouraged to stay in contact with the elves who cared for them as small children, and as they grow more independent in puberty, their emotional bond will grow weaker, but the elves will not forget that easily.
Harry had to smile briefly, remembering Hermione's S.P.E.W obsession in third year, but the smile vanished quickly when he thought about the current predicament. He took the note and decided to show it to Hermione. He would bet half his Gringotts vault that Prudy had looked after Malfoy when he was a child. The next book was just another edition of the same book on the 'Customs and Conventions of the Common house elves' and he just let the pages ran through his fingers without looking at the pages and put it back. Hermione had not put any notes into that one.
When he left the library, he pondered what he could do in addition to persuade Hermione that he was really trying to be fair – provided she would deign to talk to him. He decided to pay a visit to Snape, or rather to his portrait.
Headmistress McGonagall kindly allowed him access to the headmaster's bureau. As always Harry was a bit at a loss in Snape's presence. He had hated the man while he lived, a feeling that had been mutual. And yet, he knew about his efforts to bring Voldemort down and he did not begrudge Snape the reputation of a good Slytherin and a war hero. The man was dead after all.
Still conversations with Snape made Harry quite uncomfortable. He did not know, if it was due to how the portrait had been done – in haste and focussed on giving Harry the important information on horcruxes including that he himself had been one – or if it was a residue of the obsession Snape had actually felt, but listening to Snape talking about his love for Lily Evans gave him goose bumps. He tried to be polite, but he could not hide that he disliked how his mother kept coming up in conversations with Snape. As for other information it was always a bit of a gamble if Snape could be of help. Harry suspected that the portrait remembered at least some of Snape's long-time preoccupation, but some gaps in the portrait's mind were unexplainable. Snape's portrait did not know anything about veritaserum for example, when he had brewed the most potent truth serum.
It did certainly not help to ease Harry's conversation with Snape that his former potions teacher was positively smug about Malfoy being married to Hermione. The portrait did not have much information on Malfoy, but apparently Snape thought that Draco Malfoy getting his Gryffindor crush was a late retribution for Snape losing his, even if it had been Ron who had been dumped for the Slytherin and not Harry, the son of James Potter.
And Lily Evans – never Potter – always came up, even when Harry was talking about different subjects. Today, he interviewed Snape on amortentia. In her latest plea for the abandonment of the contact ban, Hermione had argued that the recipe for the amortentia variant that could be done in the muggle way was only existent in a single manuscript in the Department of Mysteries and that there was no way, that Draco could have access to that when he had been living as a muggle in London. Professor Slughorn had denied that and had produced a rare copy of the journal by the notorious Roman wizard Vinicius, who had dabbled in many branches of magic, potions and charms and some spells that bordered on the dark arts. Harry hoped that Snape could tell him if he had been familiar with Vinicius.
Snape's portrait frowned when he was confronted with the question and admitted that he had owned a copy of Vinicius.
"Half of what Vinicius wrote was utter rubbish. He was old when he wrote his journal, and in his dotage. It took me years to make sense of some of the things he wrote."
If Snape's portrait remembered that, the potions master's preoccupation with Vinicius must have been intense indeed.
"Did Malfoy see the book? You were his godfather after all, and he was your favourite student in potions?"
Snape's face closed. Even as a portrait that held only a fracture of his brilliant mind, he was smart enough to realise where Harry was headed.
"Certainly not," he said. "I would never have shown that to anyone. I worked on a commentary on Vinicius, an extract of the useful and interesting things. That was highly advanced research, nothing for students, even talented ones."
Snape snorted. He did not say explicitly, that Harry had never been a talented student, but Harry heard it nonetheless. "I never tried Vinicius' recipe for amortentia. Why should I try something that takes thrice as long as the usual recipe? And I would never have stooped down to brew amortentia."
Harry was quite sure, that Snape was lying to protect Draco. "Thrice as long? How long is that?"
Snape rolled his eyes. "Potter, how long does it take to brew amortentia?"
Harry rolled his eye in turn and was tempted to stick out his tongue, from war-hero to war-hero. "Professor Slughorn says that it takes a year to brew amortentia the muggle way. That is why it takes so long for the effect to fade."
Snape frowned. "Not with Vinicius' recipe. That is supposedly three weeks."
"Then the effect should only last nine weeks and then the victim becomes disenamoured?" That made no sense. Hermione was still very much enamoured and unreasonable.
"Well done, Potter. You can actually triple a number and come up with the right result."
Harry sighed exasperated. "Professor Snape, you do realise that you are a bit childish." He preferred being scolded like a pupil to being lectured on the many charms of Lily Evans though.
"Pardon me." The former potions master looked somewhat contrite. "I was lapsing into bad habits."
Snape's gaze became intense, and his mien was serious. "Believe me, Potter," he said. "From all that I know, it is not feasible, that Draco brewed amortentia, not because of what he might have known or not known about any recipe. I do not think my godson would have tried to cheat his way into Ms. Granger's affections. To get the affection of someone you love like that? That would just have been a cheap copy, a shadow of a shadow." He shook his head vigorously.
Harry swallowed his anger. He did not believe that Snape really was sorry for behaving like the arrogant teacher he had been, but he would not destroy his chances to consult Snape occasionally, not on purpose.
"You know, Professor Snape. I've become careful to claim to know what people would do or would not do."
He grinned. "After all, there are many things you did, I would have claimed to be completely out of character before I saw your memories." So, maybe his temper still could get hold of him.
Harry spoke with Professor Slughorn next and told him about the peculiar coincidence that a copy of the notorious Vinicius had also been in Snape's possession. The head of Slytherin was surprised, that Snape's portrait remembered this.
"I have been at Spinner's End in May this year and I didn't find any books, just potions ingredients."
"What?" Harry asked. "That can't be. Searching Snape's house was one of the first things I did during auror training just in case there was something valuable. There was nothing there, nothing. And why would you go there now. Snape's been dead for four years."
Professor Slughorn made to put more heat under the cauldron that sat on his fire and stirred the potion, whispering a spell and blowing carefully on the liquid while big blue-turquoise drops fell into the cauldron from his wand.
"Some wards dissipate with time. I've checked every year, but it was only this year, that I found something."
He shrugged. "Not much, some rare ingredients, put under a stasis charm. As good as the day Severus bought them. I left the more common ingredients there."
Harry shook his head slightly. Leave it to Slughorn to try to cut expenses by plundering an abandoned house.
"So, what do you say, which recipe did Malfoy use?"
Slughorn shook his head. "I am so sorry for your friend, Harry. Such a bright witch! But there can't be any doubt, that it was the recipe that takes a year. I've run the analysis after all."
He turned and gave a generous sprinkle of blind worm stings into the potion.
"Vinicius' recipe works without ginger, and there was definitely ginger in that cauldron." Slughorn added.
"So, we just have to be patient." Harry dreaded that he had to crush Ron's hope. He would remember the hint about the ginger, though, just in case Parkinson tried to argue in favour of Malfoy again.
Harry politely asked after the potion Slughorn was preparing and learned that the potions master was trying something new, a potion that would neutralise enchanted or cursed objects.
"Wow," Harry remarked. "Do you want to drive curse breakers out of their jobs?"
The professor laughed. "So far it only works on small spells. Not very useful yet. I can clean a goblin silver plate of the anti-tarnishment spell worked into it. But nobody would even want that."
Next on Harry's list was the house-elf Prudy, but that turned out to be a very short visit. The elves in the Hogwarts kitchen were polite enough, even though they definitely had been friendlier in Harry's time at the school, but Prudy busied herself in the kitchen and ignored Harry altogether. She wouldn't even answer his question, if she had looked after Malfoy, when he had been a child.
"The Malfoy trial is closed, Mr Potter," Prudy told him while she vigorously stirred in a pot that held sauce. "I gave my testimony, and nobody believed me. I will not tell you anything unless you take me in for questioning. And for that you need a warrant."
She took the spoon out of the top and pointed it at him. "And I would contest any warrant you produce, Mr Potter. I am a free elf and I have just the lawyer at hand who would love to sue you for unduly taking me for an interview."
Harry gave up. He would get no answers from Prudy.
Just out of curiosity Harry did not apparate directly to the Burrow but made a detour to Snape's house. It looked shabbier than four years ago, but otherwise it was just the same, but when Harry entered, he immediately realised that there was an additional room. A room that had not been there before. He ran an analysis on wards' residues. It was not as Slughorn had said. The wards had not grown weaker with time, the wards had been set to a condition, not Snape's death or Voldemort's death, but Snape had connected the wards to the Grangers, if he read it correctly. Snape's wards had fallen the moment Hermione had been reunited with her parents. Harry admired how intricately Snape had set the wards. Even from the residues, he could see that it was a work of art.
Harry thought long and hard about that, while he searched the small room. It was exactly as Slughorn had told him. There were vials upon vials and flasks upon flasks all labelled with Snape's small but tidy handwriting. It made sense, that Snape had wanted to keep his secrets even beyond his own death and Voldemort's death would have been tricky to set. What if Voldemort had died but one horcrux had survived? So Snape had set the wards to dissipate at a time, when the muggles he had saved were reunited with their daughter. Still risky, but Snape had ensured that the Grangers would only search for their daughter after they heard the name Voldemort. And the Grangers had been at Snape's house and he could anchor the conditions of the wards to them. Harry wondered if Slughorn had realised that it had not been a matter of wards weakening.
It was only happenstance that the last rays of sunshine that fell through the window reflected on the glass of the numerous vials and flasks. If Harry had stood differently or if the sun had not come out, he would never have found it. One vial held no label, the reflection of the sun met Harry's glasses directly and made him squint for a moment. He identified the offending vial and picked it up, curiously. It tingled when he touched it and for a moment, a feeling of numbness ran over his hands. There was a ward on it, one that was not meant for Harry. A silvery-grey fog was wafting on the inside. That was no potion ingredient. If Harry knew the late potions master at all this vial had been meant for Hermione. He pressed his fist around the vial and let it slip into his pocket.
When he arrived at the Burrow, the mood was even worse than in the morning. Arthur Weasley sat encircled by his children and daughters-in-law and they all spoke words of encouragement. Apparently, the voices that demanded his resignation because of the house elf crisis he somehow should have foreseen, were growing louder and louder. Harry wondered how Arthur could have known about that. It should be obvious that Arthur was not attached to pureblood traditions. Harry suspected the Weasleys had abolished quite a lot over time.
Nobody remembered that Arthur Weasley had done his best to oversee the rebuilding of wizarding society. Other Purebloods accused him that he should have known about Sammael Malfoy's thrice cursed house elf pact, because apparently it had been put into place because Archibald Weasley had married a halfblood, Sophie with some common muggle name like Smith or Miller. And this had been the incentive for Sammael to close the lines of the "real" pureblooded heirs. The Weasleys were all seething with anger.
On top of it all, Hermione had proven to be relentless in her attempts to question the contact ban. She had handed in another plea. This time she wanted Malfoy to be allowed to be present at the birth of their child.
Molly cursed Hermione, while Ron tried to plead for patience. Ron was very erratic in what he said about Hermione. He fumed and ranted at her himself but would not allow others to say something against her.
Percy was complaining about the injustice his father had to endure, George called Ron 'Fred' in a rare moment of forgetfulness, which made Ginny cry, while little Victoire Weasley wailed about her favourite stuffed toy. Harry listened to the ruckus, his emotions in turmoil. He felt pity and sadness for Ron, anger at the prejudices even a pureblood like Arthur had to endure, longing for being alone with Ginny, frustration that the usual Weasley family remedy – flying and Molly's cooking – had not worked. All these blended together in a fog in his brain that mimicked the silvery-grey wafting in the vial that sat in Harry's pockets. The vial felt like it pierced his trousers and burned his skin despite being colder than a piece of ice.
Notes:
So, another Harry PoV... I hope that you can see, that Harry's motives are multiple and varied...
I actually enjoy writing his PoV very much, mostly because he is an unreliable narrator and you have to guess at some of the things that drive him.
Chapter 74: Pillow Talk IV
Summary:
The Granger-Malfoys celebrate the recurrence of the Phoenix Potion notes.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Draco had texted Hermione and told her to hurry. But since it was no emergency, they had decided that she would wait for an international portkey instead of hopping home via multiple apparations.
They were all still up, when Hermione finally arrived from Geneva, even little Robert, although he was technically dozing off on Draco's lap. Draco exchanged a grin with Rina, when Hermione realised immediately that it was important because Prudy was sitting with them.
"We are celebrating," Meg told her.
"I can see that." She raised an eyebrow at the mess on the table. Draco had made burgers and chips, giving in to popular demand usually reserved for rare occasions like birthdays. Rina and he had a glass of wine and there were jelly beans, cocoa, chocolate, crisps. He had plundered the sweets compartment on the top shelf. Prudy was nipping on a glass of tea.
Colin grinned broadly. They had agreed that he deserved to tell the news. "Because of this, mum."
He showed her the notes. At first, Hermione frowned, she had seen the book after all, but her eyes widened when she recognized Draco's handwriting.
"No," she said, still a hint of disbelief in her voice.
They laughed. "Oh yes."
"You put these notes in the house elves section? In the house elves section? Merlin!"
Colin told her all, what kind of spells had been put on the book. That he might never have been so insistent, if he had not been convinced the book was about house elves.
"I can hardly believe how many layers you put on those notes, love," Hermione's eyes shone.
Draco thought that her excitement at his achievement was very promising. He had always known that the path to Hermione's heart and interest was intelligence and if he were not entirely mistaken, he would have a good chance to make the best of it, later when they were alone. He grinned at her and gazed intently into her eyes.
"Anybody who was looking for the notes would not find them. Did you get the idea from Dumbledore? He hid the philosopher's stone like that."
Draco shrugged. "I don't remember, but I might have."
Hermione laughed. "Colin's persistent interest in elves is to blame. What do you say to that, Prudy?"
Prudy shook her head. "Well, when I saw these notes in their original form they weren't bound, and as a book… that Do-not-notice was exceptional. Not that I would look at 'Customs and Conventions of the Common house elves'." She scrunched her face.
Hermione leafed through the book. "What codes did you use, Draco?"
"That is the downside." Draco admitted. "Colin could have shoved that book into my face and I probably would not have recognized it. I have absolutely no memory of the codes I used. I just know that I did not use a simple encoding spell."
"Of course not, that would have been easy to break after all. Why make anything easy?" Rina rolled her eyes.
"Well, even though you were the greatest wizard at the time you wrote this, I am still confident, we can break the code." Hermione was looking forward to it, Draco could hear the excitement in her voice. Her cheeks were flushed, and Draco loved to see it. Their eyes met shortly again. He flashed a smile at her.
"I might have used several codes."
"Nevermind. We'll get it."
"I've already made a list of words most likely to appear." Rina had already decided she would rub this under Professor Thompson's nose.
She had also made several copies of the notes, so that some could be put away for safekeeping, and the children would each get a copy to carry to school. Draco had had no success in dissuading the children from working on the notes, even though school started again on Monday.
"Prudy you're bound to come up," Colin told the little elf.
Prudy tilted her head and just glanced at Draco. He felt a sudden flush in his cheeks that was not due to his excitement.
"Oh Merlin," he said, grimacing.
"What is it, dad?"
"It's just …. We often joke about that now, but… When you all work on that notes, you will realise what an absolute prick I was … using Prudy as my guinea pig."
Prudy's smile was amused. "Yes, you did that. But when it came to actually swallowing the potion you did it yourself."
"I'm quite sure, I did that, because I wanted to know if it would work on a wizard." It pained to admit that.
"As you are prone to tell everybody, motives can be complicated, and it might have come into it as well, that you actually took pity on my fear."
Draco smiled at Prudy. "You are too nice for this world, you should team up with Luna."
"Prudy and Luna, the only Jane Bennetts, we know." He could hear the amusement in Hermione's voice, and they shared another look. Usually at least one of the children would have remarked on the utter grossness of their parents exchanging wordless flirtation, but their excitement about this new development was far too great to even notice the burning looks.
"There are still some chips left, mum" Lizzie pointed them out.
"They are cold by now," Draco made to stand and reheat them or fetch something else.
"There is no need. I'll just take some wine. I had enough food at the conference."
The children told her about Penny's party then, how Draco's cake had been 'gobbled up' by the Weasleys, that Rina had beaten James to the snitch, that uncle Neville had made a photo of that, and that Penny had been absolutely thrilled about the occamy figure. Draco's eyes met Hermione's again and her smug smile told him, that he had guessed right. She had wanted to outshine everyone with her present.
Colin was called upon again to describe how his talk with Potter had gone and Hermione face showed something between pride and amusement. Finally, all the wine was finished and even the cold chips were eaten, and they made ready to go to bed.
"I made a groupchat for madam, and the first thing I sent was the photo of Rina catching the snitch. I'll add you to it."
"Oh, and Robert came up with the neat solution of how we can call Dad's mother," Lizzie put in.
Hermione looked at Draco with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not my fault our children decided that granny or grandma would not do. And the curse would probably cut the connection the moment they say that. She called today, and as I was talking to her, Robert interrupted us."
As if on cue, Robert opened his eyes, and smiled sleepily at Hermione.
"It's high time for you to go to bed, little one." Hermione took him in her arms.
"Robert," Draco urged him. "Tell mum who talked to you, today on the phone."
"Grandmadam," Robert said.
Hermione laughed. "I swear, you are such a rascal," she told him. "I am certain you should be able to talk more. The name fits her very well. She might even like it."
"And it doesn't trigger the curse," Draco added. "Madam wants to hire Duncan Miller to do research on the impact of muggleborns on wizarding society for her new foundation."
Hermione grinned. "To be paid in galleons."
"Obviously."
In all the ruckus, Draco had almost forgotten to ask Hermione how the conference had been.
She waved the question aside. "Unpleasant. Some of the WfG campaigners border on being anarchists. And they were trying to tell me that goblins would have wands in Britain by autumn. Morons. The law won't pass the wizengamot just like the last five times."
She began to unbutton her blouse. "If I had known what surprise awaited me, I would have tried to apply for an earlier portkey."
"We didn't want to spoil the surprise. Everyone wanted to see your face." Draco had wanted to see her face and it had not been a disappointment.
Hermione turned to him and her eyes held a glint that went directly to Draco's core.
"Do you think that Potter really searched for my notes?" Draco asked. He did not want to spoil the excellent mood, but he was genuinely curious.
"He had no reason to lie about that. The more interesting question is, when. After the end of the ban?"
"I think he must have done that after." Draco did not think Potter would have looked for them before. That would mean that Potter knew he had been framed before the lift of the ban. Potter had never deigned to admit that he had at some point understood that Draco had been framed. But Draco would bet that Potter had been in denial until the end of the ban.
"Can you believe that our Colin really pulled that? He is your son after all." Hermione jested.
"Well, he pressured Potter, that means he is your son." Draco pointed out.
They both laughed.
"I promise you, Mr Potter, that my father will hear about this." Hermione said with a condescending and arrogant voice. Was this supposed to be his voice when he had been a child?
Draco threw a fake punch at her. "I am not sure, this is funny, Granger," he growled, but he only held on his scowl for a few seconds. He laughed again. He had not known Colin had it in him.
"Just imagining Potter's face when he realised what he held in his hands…. "
"And Blaise. He must have felt so smug."
His eyes met hers. Her eyes were dancing.
"Poor Luna though, she must have gotten anxiety from the situation possibly blowing up." That probably was true. But Blaise would have been there to ground her.
"Do you believe that there is this big conspiracy?"
"We don't need to take Harry's word for that. We'll ask Pansy. I wonder if Harry really will come and talk to us." Hermione's voice was muffled, because her head had vanished in the shirt she took off.
"Well, we don't really need to rush. And it might really be a better idea to go public after we deciphered my notes. We can give him some time." Draco's good mood was making him feel rather generous. He could be mature about this. Just the imagination of Potter's face was enough to quell any lingering need for revenge.
"Rina is hell bent. She will lord this over Professor Thompson." Hermione's head had popped out of her blouse, her hair delightfully messy. Draco reached out to flatten the strands that stuck out.
"We should agree on what we want. I don't want Potter to manipulate us. I don't have a feeling of strong solidarity with the aurors." That was an understatement. Draco thought all aurors but Pansy could rot, at the very least aurors who had been involved eighteen years ago.
Hermione scoffed. "Neither do I. We'll get, what is our due. Nothing less than a full exoneration."
She still had her bra on and reached behind her back.
"I seem to have a problem here." Her eyes shone again just like when she had heard about all his spells on the Phoenix Potion notes. "I'm sure this problem needs a bright man to solve it."
Draco edged closer in no time at all. "Am I the right man? For my bee dot itch?"
"Hmm," she hummed. "A man who successfully hid a book for twenty years in the middle of the Hogwarts Library? I think, I can trust you to unhook my bra."
And so he did.
He brought his mouth close to her ears and purred. "You know, love, I could try and see how far my voice can get you. It's been a while since we did that."
The flush on Hermione's neck was very promising.
"A hundred years should go to praise/ Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze./Two hundred to adore each breast…" he whispered into her ear.
"I can't believe that happened." Draco held the condom and let out a long string of curses. "Condoms ripping is supposed to be an urban legend."
Hermione's face was as startled as his own.
"Shit," she said. Her face had paled.
"I hope today isn't one of your fertile days."
Hermione scrunched her face, baring her teeth in an awkward half smile.
"Oh no, fuck, fuck, fuck. Why does this keep happening? You should think we are imbeciles at contraception."
"It's not your fault, love. We've been using condoms for ages. It must have had a defect."
He groaned. "We only ever wanted two, two! Not that I want to complain about our children, but…. this is just our luck…."
"Calm yourself, Draco, I'm forty."
Then she laughed awkwardly. "Just last week Luna told me, that you only need to loosen your belt for me to become pregnant."
"Let's hope that was not on of Luna's uncanny predictions." Draco closed his eyes.
"Come over, love," Hermione told him.
He buried his face in the crook of her neck.
"Unintentional pregnancies happen most often with teenagers and women over forty. Because people tend to think it should be over at some point," he mumbled.
That made her laugh for real. "It's not signed in stone yet, Draco."
"How can you be so sanguine about that?"
She stroked his neck. "Our financial problems are a thing of the past. Now that your mother is invested in magical creatures and wants to run that programme for muggleborns. And pregnancies are easy on me, you know that. I am lucky in that regard."
"You always forget the part where you are actually in labour and punch me and swear that this time you will remember the pain of the baby actually popping out. And then there is the lack of sleep….."
She chuckled. "There is no need to choose baby names yet, love."
"I swear, I am going to make an appointment for that vasectomy. First thing tomorrow."
"The day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is Sunday."
"No, it's after midnight, love, tomorrow is Monday."
She hit him playfully. "Let's just hope, that Dr Church doesn't get the flu like the last two times and cancels again. And I'll just swallow that vile 'after' potion."
Notes:
I hope you all agree that the family needs to celebrate...
Thank you for all the lovely comments from old and new readers.
Chapter 75: Awkward negotiations
Summary:
Harry meets Hermione and Draco to negotiate about the keeping the Phoenix Potions notes secret.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It had been a long time since Harry had dreaded something he had to do. And he knew that staving off would not help.
And yet he was tempted to stay at home and work on the magical signatures of the people who had enchanted the figurines. He had already done several samples, but he would have to connect the signatures to actual wizards and witches. But if he could, he would have excellent and damning evidence. He wondered who he could dispatch to collect signature of the suspects. Inconspicuously.
Harry stamped on the temptation to delay. After all, if tomorrow's Prophet would have a headline on the exoneration of Draco Malfoy, some people might start asking questions. He told himself that this was after all not the first time he had to inform people that they had been observed. He would just play this by the book.
He grabbed his invisibility cloak, left Grimmauld, and apparated to Mayweed Grove under the cloak. It was as if fate wanted to reward him for not procrastinating. He stood on the other side of the street and could just see the Malfoys getting into the car, all of them. He overheard Hermione telling one of her daughters, that they should not eat the chocolate in front of grandma and grandad, and no they should not leave it in the car either, because it was too hot. The youngest demanded 'Winnie Pooh' very loudly, while the older children protested. Apparently, every one of them wanted something different. The toddler began to wail, but the noise was cut off, when Hermione slammed the door of the van. The last thing Harry heard was something about 'if I hear the word wasted again from you, little drama queen'.
Harry pondered his options. It was obvious that the Malfoys were off to visit the grandparents, and they might not be back before evening. Harry decided again on immediate action. It would do him some good to practice breaking wards anyway.
He took out his wand and prepared to run revealing spells. On a hunch he first made the move to disable the wards that would be triggered by revealing spells and smiled when these fell apart. Hermione would realise they were gone, when they returned, but Harry had not to think about remaining undetected. How many wards would Hermione have placed on the house?
Harry worked his way through the intricate weaving of Hermione's wards. She probably would be angry at him for destroying the piece of art that were her wards, but that would be the least of his problems anyway. Harry began to sweat when he realized that some of the wards had to be dissolved almost simultaneously. Some of the cursed wards rebounded like rubber bands. It felt like an eternity, until he finally disabled the last ward, even the one that had an additional 'do not notice me' on top. It could not have been more than a few minutes though.
Harry opened the door feeling smug, just a little bit. He had not lost his grip, even though it had been him against Hermione's wards. Maybe he would have noticed the muggle device if he had not basked in his triumph. An alarm went off and Harry let out a string of curses. Of course, Hermione would install muggle devices in addition.
He had to be fast now. He was certain, it would take Hermione only seconds to arrive. He cast his patronus and sent him in front of the door, in the hope that Hermione would not crash in immediately if she knew it was him. He ran upstairs, frantically searching. He heard a loud crack and knew Hermione had apparated. He looked out of the window and saw Hermione studying his patronus.
She opened her bag and took out her mobile. "Draco? Apparently, it was Harry. He broke through the wards. I guess he wants to talk. Want to turn the car and come as well and we'll weather it together?"
High time to make use of the additional minutes. Harry waved his wand in several quick casts and looked for the tell-tale line that would show him where the safe was. Finally, he found it, a poster that aligned perfectly to the safe. Another disabled ward and an alohomora later he held the two galleons, that had not been spent since January. There was also a bunch of photos. Obviously, they had already made a copy of the notes on the Phoenix Potion. Not that he had expected anything else. He deactivated the recording charm, which only needed his touch, reset the wards with Hermione's signature. A quick glance out of the window showed him the Malfoy's car turning into the lane. He brushed the mirror on his way out, casting a spell that was standard procedure at the end of an observation, and made his way back downstairs. He took off the invisibility cloak and folded it.
Harry was sitting on the sofa studying the well-ordered and tidy living room and the bookshelves by the time the front-door opened, and the whole family entered. He let his patronus go.
"You breached my wards," Hermione's face was set in a frown.
Harry nodded. "And bloody tough work that was. First, I almost triggered the ward that would notify you of any revealing charms being cast, then I almost dissolved them in the wrong order and lastly, I only skirted the last ward on a hunch. And then I fell for that muggle device like a fool."
"Why didn't you just notify us? Or ring the doorbell? Colin warned us after all, that you wanted to talk." Malfoy's eyes glittered.
"I'm not out for field work that often. I'm getting rusty, and I needed some exercise, pitting myself against really tough wards." He shrugged. "I won and lost to the muggle alarm."
"You did not deactivate the last alert ward." Hermione pointed to her necklace where a red stone shone. "And you should really take muggle technology into account."
"I am about to remedy that. My cousin Dudley will be our new liaison for muggle technology."
The children were filing in after their parents. The eldest daughter made no effort to hide her glare, and the others looked at him with a guarded expression. Well, he had broken into their house.
Harry tied his invisibility cloak to a bundle and threw it at Colin. "Here, as promised."
Malfoy was not diverted that easily. "Put your wand on the table and let Hermione run a priori incantatem over it. I don't believe that bullshit about practising ward dissolution. You were alone in our house for only a few minutes, but that would be enough to do something."
Harry threw up his hands. The man was far too suspicious, even if he had reason. "I mean no harm, just hear me out."
"Your wand, Potter." Malfoy insisted.
"POTTTER," the toddler said, as if the word was funny.
The smaller girls let out a nervous giggle and Hermione bade the children to leave them alone.
Harry put his wand on the table, alongside the observation warrant, he had brought.
"I admit that I checked your safe. I'm not surprised that you already have a backup of the Phoenix Potion notes. I didn't take anything."
Malfoy ran up the stairs, probably to check the safe. Hermione who had not lowered her wand for single moment, cast the priori incantatem on Harry's wand.
She observed the unfolding of his last spells up to the point where he had apparated. Her face was set in concentration.
"You unlocked our safe and then you reset the wards. Did you truly expect to get away with this? I was the person, who showed Pansy and Neville how to copy wards with the original magical signature."
Harry shrugged. "No, not really, if I am honest. It just had to try."
"What was that last spell, you used?", she asked. "What does it do?"
"Standard procedure. When an observation is finished. Last message to the file case in the department." Not a lie.
Malfoy returned. "The photos are still there."
"You didn't tell Colin, that we were under observation." Hermione's face was dark with anger. "He said something about a conspiracy."
Hermione handed Malfoy the warrant wordlessly. Malfoy studied it, his face a mask.
"Diversion." His voice was a hiss. "Diversion?"
"I needed people to think that I was preoccupied elsewhere. I still need them to think that. That is why your notes must remain a secret, at least for a little while. They resurfaced at a rather inconvenient moment." That was an understatement.
He looked at Malfoy. "I told you in February, that I did not suspect you of anything. It was true then and it is true now."
Silence fell heavy between them. Hermione's left hand was balled to a fist, and her right hand gripped her wand so tightly, that the knuckles stood out.
"But you had no qualms to let everybody believe that you suspected us of something," she finally said.
Harry frowned.
"Don't look at me like that, Harry. Us. If it's about Draco, it is about me as well. What would you have done if someone tried to frame us again? Stood by to not blow your cover?" Her voice was flat, in stark contrast to the anger that burned in her eyes.
Harry pressed his lips together. "Someone is trying to divert my attention to you. I suspect it is just a back-up, not a serious frame, but I thought I'd better give the impression that I bought this."
"How exactly?" Malfoy wanted to know. He had taken Hermione's left hand in his, trying to loosen her balled fist.
Harry looked at them over the rim of his glasses, so that their faces became blurred and that just their hand were sharp in his vision.
Hermione stood. "Harry, if you do not tell everything, this talk will end here and now, and I'll give an exclusive interview to the Prophet tomorrow. I don't care about this damn conspiracy. The bloody auror department has been compromised for ages. And you knew it. You have known it the moment you realised Draco was framed with that bloody cauldron. And don't tell me you did not realise that at some point. You've headed that bloody department for ten years now."
Harry decided to not open the can of worms that was the amortentia case. He moved his head so that Hermione was in the focus of his glasses, but Malfoy who stood at her side, was still blurred. "There were attacks on Muggleborns that were concentrated in Wiltshire, at least one of the spells used against them is a spell Severus Snape invented, a spell that should have been lost. A spell that was only ever used on Malfoy as far as I know. Goblin silver artefacts are connected to this case and your mother-in-law was approached with an offer to sell or rather get rid of the Malfoy goblin silver and I am not convinced that it was a coincidence that Fortescue and Miller was the caterer at little Emma's funeral."
He saw Hermione pale. Malfoy's face on the other hand suddenly gained colour. He had connected the dots.
"Were we bugged?" Malfoy asked through gritted teeth. Hermione's head snapped at him.
Harry considered lying, but he hesitated for the fraction of a second too long, and he saw the moment they understood.
"The standard procedure involves the destruction of any memory or recording when the observation has turned out to be unfounded." This might have worked on any other person Harry had observed over the years, but not on Hermione. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Why was that even necessary?" She shoved the warrant in his face. "Diversion, it says diversion. Tailing Draco would have been enough for that. And how did you do it? You said it yourself, my wards are very good."
"They are excellent. It was sort of an accident. We were trying out a new object to get information. And I didn't even intend for one of these to find its way to you. But then it had happened I could not let that opportunity pass."
He gave her a lop-sided smile that was most definitely not returned.
"These things were made to pass wards, anyway, but you carried them, maybe close enough to your scutum." He focused on Malfoy.
"Percy Pencil-Pusher Weasley gave me additional galleons." Malfoy closed his eyes. "He really should know better than to suspect me of money laundering."
He laughed without humour. "I guess recording galleons is a good method to trace money laundering. At least when people actually spend the money."
Hermione's eyes burned with cold anger. Harry would rather have her spitting and hissing like a wildcat.
"Who? Harry, who?" she asked.
"I'm not obliged to tell you," Harry answered. "One was me. And I did not listen in, when it was my turn. The other was someone who can't keep their mouth shut, which was sort of the point."
"Does Pansy…?" Malfoy asked. He still held on to Hermione's hand, but his other hand was fisted. He was seething.
"I already have an appointment with her, once we've sorted this out, … in a dark alley, where she'll pummel me, I'm sure. While Neville holds me down."
"How could you do this? I do not mean to us. There is no love lost between us, you didn't risk destroying something. But Pansy! She must be torn to pieces!" Malfoy accused him harshly.
Harry put his thumb to his nose and massaged the bridge of his nose under his glasses.
"Life is unfair." He stated. "I know it is unfair to use the people I trust. So, yes, if it were an option, I would rather hurt the people who attack innocent children than Pansy. But we need to get them. And I had to play along to their schemes, or they would have realised I'm on their trail."
"You really know how to play your cards, Harry," Hermione studied him with an emotion on her face, that he could not identify. "We can hardly stand in the way of justice for muggleborn children."
"I spoke with Percy and with Ollivander, as I promised your son. I had no idea…." He let his voice trail off.
Malfoy scoffed. "You had no idea. I can well believe that. But if you had thought one minute, you could have had an idea. At least you do not cover your manipulations under false kindness, like Dumbledore did."
They studied each other for a long time.
"There is a price tag attached though, Potter."
He had expected that.
"Once this is over, and once we have managed to decipher my notes, you will make a public statement as head auror. That I should have been fully acquitted in my trial and that you have found evidence that I was framed in the Amortentia case. And that you should have trusted Hermione."
Malfoy's face was determined. "If you do not do this, we will sue you for undue harassment. Diversion, Diversion! That can't be a valid reason."
"No, it isn't." He had not expected Malfoy to be that reasonable. "But the stakes are high. I did not invent the conspiracy."
"We know," Hermione studied his face. "Pansy confirmed it."
"I think I know who was responsible for the frame. I've had a hunch for ages," Harry offered. "But there is no proof. One person is dead and the other is involved in this neo death-eater conspiracy, up to his neck. Once we make our arrest, he'll be in deep."
Malfoy glared. "Don't wriggle your way out of this. I don't care how you get evidence on a case that has been cold for almost two decades, but you will get it and if you have to add to the accusations of one of the hapless guys who will end up in the traps you undoubtedly set. Who do you suspect anyway?"
Harry shrugged. "As I said, there is no proof. And my second always tells me, that I should not act on hunches alone."
Hermione and Malfoy both glared at him. Maybe mentioning Pansy had not been a good idea. But as long as they would not ruin his chances at dismantling the conspiracy….
"I offer to swear an unbreakable oath."
"Just a promise on your magic will be sufficient. There will be no sticking to the letter of the agreement and going against the intention." Hermione's voice was scathing.
"I promise… on my magic," Harry could feel the weight of his promise, a short clenching in his magic. "I will make a public statement proclaiming that you were a defector and admit my failure to see through the framing and produce a suspect."
"Not as suspect, Potter, a culprit." Malfoy's lips were set in a thin line. "I know it wasn't the Weasel, although your reluctance to share any names…."
"That is just habit. I only share names with my aurors." Harry shrugged. "And I can't have you on a rampage against that person. That could be almost as disastrous as you going public with the Phoenix Potion notes."
Malfoy snorted. "I just assume, that there is no need for you to hold back. Pansy says your hunches are almost always correct. So that is enough for me. As long as it's 900 days Azkaban for that person."
Harry nodded.
"Promise," Malfoy snarled.
"I promise I'll find a culprit." Harry had planned that he would be the one to arrest him anyway.
Heavy silence settled down on them.
Harry searched Hermione's face. It had been so long since he had looked at her closely. There were tiny lines around her eyes, and the occasional grey had crept into the masses of her hair, much less than in his though. He saw that emotion again, the one he could not pinpoint.
"You know, Hermione, I have often wondered, what I would have said at the trial, either if you had told me the whole truth or if you had not pressured me," he suddenly confessed. "And how this might have influenced my reaction to the planted cauldron."
Her eyes did not waver.
"I often wondered myself." Her voice was eerily calm as if she did not wonder any longer.
Harry decided for brutal honesty. "I always come to the conclusion that I do not know, I do not know, if I had done anything differently, not when I am honest to myself."
He stood. "You will get a notification once the documentation of your observation has been destroyed."
He looked at them as they stood as well, united, poised to confront him. "I am sorry, I ruined your day."
Malfoy glared at him. "More than one day, as you very well know. Yours wasn't entirely pleasant either, I hope. You are going to leave now, Potter."
When he had reached the front door, Hermione called out to him.
He turned.
"Harry, this is not a demand, but an advice. I think you should step down as head auror and find something else, maybe join Neville in teaching at Hogwarts."
It was only then, that he recognized the emotion in Hermione's face. It was pity.