So, I nearly forgot about posting, probably close to three times in the same day, so I'm still kicking myself for that. My bad. But it is still Tuesday, so I guess it still counts as on time with my schedule, so I won't let this worry me about becoming a habit or something... yet... Anyway, thanks to those who continue to review. *for those who continue to ask, yes there will be an Azeroth arc after events that take place in the Wizarding World, and it's in the works of coming to pass in due time.* So I advise patience, and enjoyment, with this next chapter. ~F
Chapter Twenty Nine
Allies
Severus wasn't pleased to be called so quickly to the Headmasters office during the summer holidays. While he normally spent most of his time in the castle regardless, for once he had been out and abroad, following up on his usual leads among the Death Eater factions, growing more concerned as he was rejected by them one by one. It was as though they had all changed allegiances from the Dark Lord to some other, but surely that couldn't be the case? Or so Severus hoped, but he feared that the dark powers that Potter wielded could easily be enough to tempt even Lucius to joining the boy's side, whatever that entailed.
Entering the Headmaster's office, a sudden movement next to the door had Severus leaping back and drawing his wand in a flash, only to come face to hideous face with Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody. "I see your reflexes are still sharp Snape," the man said curtly, "that's good."
"Headmaster," Severus said, turning to Albus, who had not moved from his seat behind the desk, "is there a reason for my presence, or was it simply one of Moody's clever tests…"
What Severus said was not without merit. For the first several years of his changing from Death Eater to spy, Moody had tested him around every corner for even the hint of deception.
"No, no there is a very important reason that you are here Severus, please have a seat." Albus said, waving the pair of them over to the desk. "Naturally you would not have heard about the attack on the Department of Mysteries, Severus, due to your time going around keeping tabs on Lord Voldemort's supporters here and abroad, but I and Alastor were there, and you need to know that I strongly suspect that Harry, or those trained by him, were involved."
That sent shivers down Severus' spine, "you believe that strongly, then?" he asked, seeking confirmation.
"We have several items that give no doubt to the presence of that same brand of dark magic, confirmed by way of Alastor's magical eye to have the same, if not similar, auras to the items that had been in contact with Harry that he left here in Hogwarts." Albus confirmed with a grim nod.
Severus frowned, "I have not been able to sustain contact with any of the Death Eaters that are still at large here in Britain. They all seem to be shunning me or any mention of the Dark Lord. I am led therefore to suspect that they have given their allegiance to another, and it is highly likely that it is Potter himself that commands them now."
"Why would the boy take up the cause of the madman that killed his entire family?" Alastor demanded, leaning forward and the sickening electric blue eye spinning rapidly in his skull.
"Oh, I doubt that Harry, or Nobu'tan as his proper name is, is planning to take up the old Pureblood dogma of Lord Voldemort," Albus chided gently, leaning back in his seat and placing the tips of his fingers together in thought, "no, he had his own agenda, and I couldn't even begin to guess that it might entail, at least in full, but I do have some speculation to parts of it…"
"…and?" Alastor pressed when Albus fell silent again.
"Throughout his time here at Hogwarts," Albus explained slowly, "Harry… Nobu'tan… has been obsessively researching one thing over all else: Magical transportation. All that in the hopes of what I had thought to be a way to revolutionize the industry with massive portals that could transport large numbers of people and objects over long distances, making both the Floo and Portkeys obsolete…."
"Those creatures used some sort of portal that matches that description," Alastor quickly pointed out, interrupting. Severus sighed softly, wondering if the blasted Auror would ever just stop and listen to what the old man had to say so that the Potions Master could leave.
"Yes," Albus affirmed, "that same sort of portal was what Nobu'tan used to escape from the castle not a few weeks prior to the attack on the Department of Mysteries. I have no doubts that those 'creatures' were actually very clever disguises to hide Harry and his accomplices, which according to Severus' information, ought to be all those old servants of Voldemort that claimed Imperius and bought their way out of Azkaban."
"And you know then that their alibis will be far too tight for Amelia to do anything about them either, what with Potter being 'missing,' and therefore having no proof to simply raid and investigate Malfoy Manor or one of the other Pureblood properties." Alastor said grumpily.
"Yes," Albus agreed softly, more so to placate the angry Auror than to really show agreement on infringing on other's rights to privacy. Severus knew that the Headmaster was far too old fashioned, and a Pureblood himself for that matter, and understood the aristocracy's need for some sort of mystery around their persons, regardless if he personally agreed with it.
"However," the old wizard continued, "what worries me more is Nobu'tan motives with these portals. It seems too convenient that he would simply want to make travel on our world easier…"
"Our world?" Alastor interrupted again, "Albus you can't be suggesting what I think you are?"
"But I am Alastor…" Dumbledore responded calmly, "Harry had disappeared for almost ten years to another world in our universe, one that was heavily entrenched in magic, and it is from there that he learned these wondrous arts, the Arcane, and its dark counterpart whose name I do not know. I believe that there are two options, one more terrifying than the other. Either he is trying to get back to that world, and leave us for good, which I could understand as he truly has no home with us anymore, or the more horrific possibility that he wants to bring something from there to here, such as person or persons unknown that taught him, and would therefore be a magical being without rival upon our world."
"Merlin's beard…" Alastor said softly, considering the possibility, "So you think, in the Department of Mysteries…"
"That Harry and his allies were seeking some artifact that could strengthen their portals? I do indeed Alastor. But as to what item in specific, I have no idea. The Department of Mysteries does not get along with myself very well, as I refused several times to assist them with experiments that I felt were too far from what ought to be considered wizarding possibilities, and thus would never tell me the full contents of their trove of knowledge. It literally could be anything. All I know is that, if what I fear is correct, that beast of fire and stone was merely the beginning of what horrors could await our world if Harry is left to his own devices."
Alastor sudden stood, "I'll get Amelia on board, within reasonable explanation, and she'll get the Minister on your side of this. There have to be measures to find the boy before he can get into too much more trouble. September is rolling around soon again correct? Well, it's highly unlikely that he'll appear back at Hogwarts for classes, and we can't have the Boy-who-Lived be truant can we?"
Severus was surprised. Seeing Mad-Eye Moody completely backing a plan with an even better execution was impressive, and the Potions Master wondered if this triumvirate, himself, Alastor and Albus, could be what was needed to defeat this apparently riding Dark Lord before he placed himself in the throne of the last.
"Good, we'll also need to gather the old crowd," Albus said. "The Order of the Phoenix will be needed to keep tabs on those more political of Harry's potential allies, so that we can keep one step ahead of them if they try to move him out of the country, for example."
"With those portals of his, would that even work?" Severus spoke up, questioning. "Why would they even need to apply for an international portkey if they could just tear open holes in space wherever they want?"
"And have almost a dozen high profile political members of the Wizengamot suddenly vanishing into thin air?" Albus questioned back, "There'd be uproar immediately. No, if Harry leaves Britain, some of his followers would have to stay to maintain influence here, and report to him regularly without the use of his powerful transportation. We wait to see which of them grabs a portkey to wherever they are keeping him, and then we'll have our answer."
"We should also look into reasons to enter and investigate Malfoy Manor, such as Dark Artifact raids or some such…" Alastor suggested, "Whoever denies us entry or protests the most is likely the one giving the boy sanctuary for the time being."
"We need to move cautiously," Albus said, "But yes, I agree that swiftness is of the essence in this matter. If you can get the approval from the Ministry, then by all means do it."
"I'll go now, but I want an owl within two days for an update, and for when we shall get to this business of learning new magic Albus, you can just sit on a major discovery like that without letting the Ministry know. One way or another it will become public, and you know what the likes of Rita Skeeter would do if it was not announced by you voluntarily…" Moody insisted, and Albus sighed as the man marched out of the room.
Severus was thorough impressed at the entire meeting. Usually he and Albus would do the majority of the talking in such instances, and Moody would just snipe and rebuttal everything until they were all at a standstill. Clearly whatever they had witnessed in the Department of Mysteries was of such earth-shattering significance that even the illustrious Alastor Moody felt that it was time to play nicely with the other children and share his insight and thoughts. In actuality it was a rather pleasant change.
"Severus," Albus said, drawing the man's attention back to him, "aside from checking up on all the free Death Eaters, what strides have you made in copying down those strange arts that Harry had been practicing down in your dungeons for the last two years."
"Some," Severus said, "but I haven't had the time required to actually sit and look through the notes I carefully took without his notice about each of the things he made and did, and even then it wasn't much. The boy is quite brilliant, you see, and did almost everything by rote memory as though he had practiced it many times before, and was just refreshing himself, or testing to see if the same things worked on our world…" Severus added thoughtfully.
"I'd wager that the second option is the more truthful one," Albus said, nodding, "I worried, Severus… I worry what we may have just unwittingly unleashed upon the world…" Albus suddenly grew still and somber, looking across his room almost wistfully.
"After all these years, have I still not learned my lesson…?" he suddenly asked himself, and Severus felt immediately uncomfortable sitting there while the man pondered something aloud, which to the Potions Master's ears sounded deeply personal and something more private than Severus had ever know Albus Dumbledore to be.
Eventually Albus did return to the world around him and readdressed Severus, "You may go, I have plans to make, and letter to write to all our allies, keep me apprised of anything, anything… you discover. Even the slightest detail could change the course of what is to come."
Severus nodded, almost grateful to be leaving the man's presence. After the arrival of Harry Potter to the castle, the changes that had come over the Headmaster were starting to show, and it was a rather worrisome thing to witness.
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Draco glanced around, only slightly nervous as he made his way through the crowded streets of Diagon Alley. He was more than aware of the goings on of the Order of the Black Harvest, being second on the leading council, and was well apprised of the happenings of their attack at the Department of Mysteries, and the potential backlashes that would come of it.
While it was significantly unlikely that anyone could actively pin the blame on any of them directly, as they lacked significant proof of their involvement, the council had mutually agreed that it was still highly likely that people would start to be sent to watch them wherever they went in wizarding society. Nobu'tan had already declared that he would not be attending Hogwarts, disguise or not, as the obvious threat to him was far too great. What they had left to decide was whether the other Slytherins who would be going into third year ought to attend or not.
One the one hand, it would show a sense of normalcy, and perhaps give those watching the idea that they might not be involved. The problem was that they were dealing with Albus Dumbledore, who had great quantities of patience, persistence, and cunning to rival each and every one of them three times over. Draco and his father were leaning towards also pulling him out of the school, but at the same time Lucius was still a member of the Board of Governors, which gave them some form of power in the goings on of Hogwarts.
There was much to decide in their last month of summer. Lucius and Nott Sr. had already made contact with one of their comrades from the old days, Igor Karkaroff, who had somehow become Headmaster of Durmstrang Academy up in the mountains toward Russia, and through a minor amount of persuasion, transferred Harry Potter to his school, which the man had seemed overly delighted to accept.
Draco knew he ought to not feel jealous, he was growing far too old for such petty things, and his new position in life had too many responsibilities for his decision to be clouded by emotion, but he still felt the tiniest twinge of regret that he might not be going to the other school as well.
Still, he did what was needful, and that included at the moment, escorting a heavily disguised Harry Potter to Gringotts bank so that he could meet with the leader of the goblins, and see what their decision was regarding the shifting balance of the world and its future.
Glancing around casually, Draco did notice that, aside from the well dressed Pureblood, which was actually a Polyjuice Potion disguise that Harry wore, some muggle or another that matched Lucius' build so that the leader of their order could borrow one of Draco's father's robes, that there were at least three others spread through the Alleyway that were intently watching Draco's every move.
At least their attention was on him and not Harry, Draco mused as he wandered near to the entrance of the Bank, not going inside or even looking at it directly as he spotted the well dressed muggle man bypass the goblins with a wary glance at each, which seemed to be some sort of signal to them, as the pair of guards shifted as Harry passed.
Stage one completed then, he thought, sighing to himself as he made his way back to Quality Quidditch Supplies, where he was supposed to wait for Harry to be finished and rejoin him.
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Nobu'tan knew that the goblins were aware of his presence the moment he walked in, and it had nothing to do with the clerk that immediately broke off conversation with a customer, and to the wizard's angry mutterings jumped down from his stool and walked swiftly toward the warlock.
"Ah, sir, we've been expecting you, allow me to escort you down to the conference room." The goblin said, far more politely than Nobu'tan ever recalled the creatures acting, even toward him. It was a good sign at the least. The line of witches and wizards that they bypassed complained at the audacity of goblins and other things as the pair passed them by, leaving the counter with no teller to tend to their needs, and walked quickly to the back room of the bank.
"You'll need to pass through a thief's downfall to get there," the goblin explained, "and it will remove your Potion that keeps you disguised, I trust you have more of it on you?"
"I do," Nobu'tan replied, and the goblin nodded. "We anticipated this, and acquired robes of your original size, should you need them for modesty's sake."
"I am grateful for the consideration," the warlock said, keeping emotion from his face as he stared at the gushing waterfall that was quickly approaching as they walked. It was curious that this was not here before, to his knowledge, unless they were taking a different path to the same room, and he wondered if he truly warranted an increase of security, which was either a good or a bad thing.
"Mr. Potter," the director said as soon as Nobu'tan entered the room, which had not changed from the last time he had entered weeks previously. "Just the young human we had been waiting for. Come, have a seat. There is much for us to discuss…" he added with a toothy grin.
The polite treatment of every goblin thus far was putting the orc-raised human on edge, and he gingerly took the offered seat across the table from the six goblins. "We have not had the pleasure of true introductions, if I recall," the Director stated, "I am Gotts Ironbane, director of Gringotts bank and chieftain of our clan. These are Nogz Bonecutter," the armor wearing warrior goblin nodded, his steely eyes watching Nobu'tan's every move, "Besz Dreadarm," the miner was carefully balancing a pickaxe on its shaft next to him, and darted his eyes to Nobu'tan and back to his tool, "Szor Metalheart," the craftgoblin, who was busy making calculations on an abacus, paused to flash a large grin at Nobu'tan, before returning to his task, "Ren Greatfinder," the blind shaman, who seemed to stare not in the general direction of the warlock before her, but through him, "and Sadz Darkeye." Finally the priest nodded at Nobu'tan, unfolding her arms from across her small body to lean on the table between them.
"Greetings to you all," Nobu'tan replied, "You clearly know who I am, or at least who I am to this world, and I have told you somewhat more about the truth, but I feel that this is not a meeting wherein either of us wishes to exchange pleasantries for too long. I have much to accomplish in a short time, and I am sure that the running of a nation and a bank is not the most liberal career for time…"
"Astute, as well as cunning…" Sadz the priestess said, to the nods of her fellows.
"Indeed," Director Gotts agreed, "and we would be remiss not to honor such tactful use of our mutual time. Yes, directness would be the best for both our parties. We are most intrigued by your offer, and especially the knowledge of new clans in worlds far beyond our own, but there are some… misgivings among some of us as to the means to which you wish to accomplish these goals."
"We've heard of the attack on the Ministry," Nogz the warrior said sharply, "and we don't completely understand why you would be so willing to turn on your fellow humans so easily, even more so your own countrymen."
"Simple," Nobu'tan replied, holding the tiniest of smiles on his face, "They are not my countrymen… the world I seek to return to has those who I call my people there, and the wizards were preventing me from taking control of one of the artifacts that I need to gather to get there, and those who stand against me, will die."
The warrior fell quiet at that, and it seemed that the other goblins were satisfied with the answer they were given. "So I take it you are willing to take part in my plans," Nobu'tan asked, and glancing over them all, did not find anything to the contrary, "Good, then know that I have no intentions of sacrificing you or your people to the Legion at any time, and what I suggest you are free to reject at your will, but the times will grow most perilous very soon."
Nobu'tan was about to speak further, when something within his robes suddenly grew extremely warm. Confused, he paused and reached in a hand, withdrawing the bag of his personal trinkets, and from that the strange fractured shard of soul that he had claimed from various artifacts that had belonged to the Dark Lord Voldemort. "Interesting…" he said to himself, more than the goblins before him, "It seems that it has awakened, and senses the presence of another piece of itself…"
"What is that you hold?" the craftsman Szor said, leaning forward with a monocle fixed in his eye, squinting the other to see better.
"A crystalline piece of a perverse soul…" the Shaman Ren replied, "belonging to the Dark Lord, who all who walk above the ground fear to speak the name of, save a few of the wisest and bravest…"
"Indeed," Nobu'tan affirmed, "If my allegiance cannot be recognized, I would submit this as evidence. I am still the defeater of that cursed human, and seek out the pieces of himself that tie him to this world. I have two, and there is a third somewhere within Gringotts…"
The reaction was palpable. The director fell silent, while Ngoz barked a string of orders in the goblin language, summoning warriors from places Nobu'tan would never have guessed that any were hiding, before sending them scurrying from the room.
"If there is any truth to your words, Mr. Potter," the Priestess, Sadz, said, "We shall find the item of which you speak. I trust you have methods of purifying the container once this is complete?"
"I do," Nobu'tan replied, holding the crystal aloft as proof.
"Then we shall descend into the vaults together, and seek out this vile object." Gotts declared, rising from his seat, followed by his council, and Nobu'tan out of politeness. "If this is true, you may well have earned our trust, for the time being."
"I am sure of its validity, and I thank you for your words," Nobu'tan replied, even as he followed the group from the room, through another passage and down a winding staircase to the cavernous vault area, where rails spanned for miles in every direction, the carts flying across them as they carried goblins, wizards and treasure from place to place.
"Can your crystal divine the way for us?" Sadz requested of Nobu'tan, and the young warlock held the fragmented soul shard aloft, turning it this way and that, wondering if it even could do as the goblin priestess requested.
It was a surprise then, when the crystal gave a shuddering pulsation when Nobu'tan pointed it into the caverns far below. "Apparently, down is the direction we must go…" he said, bemused at the little distraction himself.
"Then down we shall," Gotts said, snapping his fingers and summon a pair of carts, and they climbed in three and four per cart, and together the seven of them launched downward along the rails. Keeping a firm grip on Voldemort's soul fragment, Nobu'tan continued to direct them as they rode, continuing to get the impression that the object they sought was further down into the depths of the vaulted bank.
They passed through another thief's downfall, and Nobu'tan realized that they must have entered the high security vault area of the bank, the lowest levels. The carts eventually ground to a halt, the track itself ending as it skimmed along the ground floor of the dark and torch-lit bank. "If we are to proceed from here, we will need the clankers…" Gotts said, and Nogz produced a bag from one of the carts, that made an absurd amount of noise as it was moved.
Passing a random noisemaker to each of the goblins in the group, the bank director lead the way as they followed the direction indicated by the crystal, which led to a new chamber that held, to Nobu'tan's mild shock, a real dragon. It was tethered to the stone floor of the chamber, both rear legs cuffed to thick goblin-made chains that held it in place.
Its scales were pale from living underground, and its eyes a milky pink, yet its apparent weakness was not to be underestimated, until the goblins started to rattle their noisemakers, and the dragon hurried to scamper out of the way as much as the chains allowed it.
"It's been trained to expect great pain when it hears the clankers…" Ren explained to Nobu'tan, who merely nodded. There were only a handful of vaults in the room past the dragon, and the soul shard fragment quickly directed them to the one furthest from the dragon. "The LeStrange Vault…" Gotts said, quickly swiping a clawed finger down the door, which caused the barrier to simply fade away. "I've lowered all the defenses of Gringotts from the vault, but whether the Purebloods cursed or warded their items, I cannot say."
"I understand," Nobu'tan replied, stepping inside, and looking up at the mounds of treasure in all directions. Personally he hadn't a clue where to begin, and so relied heavily on the shards be possessed to lead him, walking gingerly around the collection of years of wealth, and holding the shards aloft, turning this way and that so that they might react. Eventually they did, when faced with a wall of strange goblets and jeweled cups. Opening himself to the magic around him, Nobu'tan wasn't at all surprised to find some leylines of magic running under the bank as well, albeit much farther down than even they were already, but through them he could feel the unnatural presence of the same dark magic that had constituted the Diadem and the diary.
Running a small amount of Arcane power through the shard, Nobu'tan projected a beam of soul magic from it, which would be called to the object that resonated with the shard. The beam wavered for only a few moments, before focusing in on a small golden cup, with handles like badgers on either side.
"Here it is," he said, unwilling to physically touch it himself, just in case. Besz came then, which Nobu'tan felt odd as the rather silent goblin lifted his pickaxe, and deftly slotted it through the handle on one side, lifting the cup from its place without a problem. Gingerly, the goblin foreman carried the cup from the vault, Nobu'tan right after him as they rejoined the rest of the governing council of the goblin nation.
"This is it, then?" Gotts asked, and Ren leaned forward to inspect it, muttering to herself the magic of the elements. She reared back suddenly, horror and disgust on her face. "This is an abomination, horrific magic that must be cleansed!" she said suddenly, and Nobu'tan took that as his cue.
Holding the shard of the Dark Lord's soul in one hand, he stretched the other toward the cup, feeling his way through magic to the blackness that was inside it. Once he made contact he realized with a shock the difference here. The cup's magic was self aware.
Even as he tried to maintain a firm grip on the writhing power that controlled the cup, there was a screaming roar from within it, resonating through Nobu'tan's body, threatening to rend him limb from limb for daring to touch the immortality of the greatest Sorcerer who ever lived.
Nobu'tan would have fallen to his knees, but the goblins had rallied around him, and both Shaman and Priestess were muttering words of their own magic, shielding him from further attack, and mending the wounds that had suddenly burst open on his body from the horrendous mental attack made physical.
Still, Nobu'tan found on, knowing that he needed these goblins on his side more than ever, and he was not one to tolerate failure, much like Gul'dan before him. straining with all his might, Nobu'tan felt the spectral groping hand of his magic finally make contact with the vile soul piece of Voldemort, and pulled as hard as he dared, drawing the Dark Lord through the Twisting Nether that connected the place of magic to the real world and into the crystal shard in his other hand.
It was agonizing work, and the vile soul clawed and dug at him every step of the way, even as it was forced through Nobu'tan's own body on its way to the shard. Feeling decidedly unclean, Nobu'tan collapsed to the stone ground as he felt the soul finally leech into place, the cup now empty and the shard glowing with unnatural magic as it grew another small piece to house the new fragment of soul that it had attained.
"It is finished," he announced, holding the shard aloft and allowing the other goblins to see briefly.
"We should leave then," Gotts replied, and Nobu'tan guessed that the dragon was starting to get overly anxious or upset at the noise, and agreed. Quickly they vacated, and the roars of the dragon filled the corridor behind them. They didn't speak until they had returned to the carts, and even then only briefly. It seemed that these goblins who led their people were deep in thought regarding the warlock's actions.
It was strange to see the cunning and usually quite manipulative peoples so stunned into silence, but Nobu'tan felt that if there was ever the chance of an alliance between the goblins and the Order of the Black Harvest, now was the time.
He was led back to the same conference room as before, but the goblins did not retake their seats, rather standing with him by the door of the room. "This was something rather unexpected…" Sadz said, "And we are glad for your intervention in our behalf. The presence of such an artifact would only grow in strength and potentially corrupted others who came to that vault, causing untold havoc in its wake."
"The goblin nation will gladly consider themselves you allies," Gotts added, "whatever aid we can give, is yours."
"Thank you Director…" Nobu'tan said with a bow, "but for now I need our alliance to remain secret, so just continue as you have always done. When fire begins to rain from the sky, it will be the time for your people to barricade themselves underground, and wait for my return. Only then will it be safe for us to depart back to the world that I came from."
The goblins seemed uneasy by the pronouncement, but agreed to at least continue to act normally toward humans for the time being, and they would wait and see if what Nobu'tan declared would come to pass.
Nobu'tan left Gringotts feeling very accomplished, making sure to take another dose of his potion and donning Lucius' borrowed robes once more before reaching the lobby of the bank. It wouldn't do for Harry Potter to sudden appear in Diagon Alley with Headmaster Dumbledore's spies all around looking for him specifically.
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Draco was growing tired of staring at the same items for so long. Marginally he wondered if those that were spying on him were suspicious of his rouse, and was searching for where Harry might be nearby, when he spotted the old muggle in his father's robes outside the shop, walking casually onward, and knew that it was finally time to leave.
Exiting the shop without purchasing anything, Draco make sure to compose his face into something of disappointment, as those what he wanted as not in stock, but he hardly have needed to bother. The massive crowd gathered around the shop window had done well to block view into the shop, as everyone was busy eyeing the new and extremely expensive Firebolt. Draco had asked what the price was, and it was a staggering amount, even for the Malfoy vaults. But that was mainly because it was still in the prototype and testing phases, and even Draco knew that the price would go down to a reasonable level once the official debut of the broom, the Quidditch World Cup finals that were scheduled the next summer, took place.
He could feel the wizards in the crowd of shoppers watching him as he moved back toward the Leaky Cauldron, but there was little that they could do to a Malfoy in public, the reprisal from his father would be staggering. At least, that was what he had thought, when in passing the archway into the back room of the dingy tavern, Draco ran into someone that intentionally stepped in his way.
"Well well, if it isn't Lucius Malfoy's son," said a grizzled voice, and Draco looked up only to flinch back as a heavily scarred Alastor Mad-Eye Moody limped forward. "We have a few questions for you, if you'd be so kind…"
Draco could feel more Aurors closing in, and frantically searched for any excuse to get away, "You can just question me without my father present, that's illegal…" he said, only to grow slightly nervous when Moody just smiled. "Well, normally that would be the case, if we were using Veritaserum and the whole battery of tests to make sure you were telling the truth, but as this is just a chance meeting where we want a few quick words, we actually don't…"
And to prove his point, Moody's vice-like hand snapped out and grabbed Draco by the arm, neither overly roughly, but certainly not gently, and pulled the young warlock into the tavern, bypassing Tom and a few of the usual as he marched, clunking with every step, up to a private room.
"Inside please…" Moody growled, sounding more like a command than a request, and opened a door nearest the landing, the other Aurors standing on either side to prevent any escape.
Draco knew that this was indeed illegal, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, and if he resisted that would give Moody all the reason he needed to haul Draco to the Ministry and do exactly what he wanted, question him to the fullest extent of the law. It was a tactic that Draco had learned about from his father. So he did the only reasonable thing. He complied.
Stepping inside the rather run down and spotty room, Draco stood in one spot as Moody moved about, checking for any sources of magical scrying or eavesdropping that might be there. Draco momentarily studied that the old Auror was indeed as paranoid as the stories said, before the man turned both his normal and electric blue magical eye on him.
"Have a seat," he urged, gesturing at the chair by the small writing desk.
"If it's all the same to you, may I stand instead?" Draco said, eyeing the filthy chair with disdain.
"Whatever…" Moody said, before summoning the chair to himself and plopping down on it nosily. The man muttered something else, and Draco barely heard the phrase "like father like son…" somewhere in it, but chose to not respond. The quicker Moody was satisfied that he wouldn't get anything by intimidating Draco, the sooner he would be released.
Several silent moments seemed to drag on, but rather than grow impatient, as Moody obviously wanted, Draco merely got bored. "Well… do you plan to ask me questions or simply waste my time?" he asked, only a small touch of condescension in his voice.
"Yeah, we'll get to your questions… And you're going to answer them to the best of your ability, or else…" Moody started, but Draco was already going to beat him to the punch.
"Or else nothing, you lack legal authority to do anything more than ask. And before you even get started I have not seen or heard from Harry Potter since the end of last year when I left from Hogwarts. I expect that Dumbledore had said or done something with him, as he was looking rather angry when we all left the castle, and he had to stay…" he said scornfully, allowing a small amount of his true anger at that situation show, to be more convincing. Moody's eye might be able to see many things, but even he had to read faces the old fashioned way.
"Where were you and your family two nights ago?" Moody abruptly asked, another thing that Draco expected to be brought up, and to which he had a ready answer prepared. "We had been out of the country for over a week, at our second home in the French countryside; we only came back to all this news yesterday." In fact only Narcissa had been at the France home, precisely for such an investigation. She didn't completely approve of both the men in her life being wrapped up in such dark affairs again, but even she had admitted that Harry seemed a much more practical leader than the Dark Lord had ever been.
"Well be checking that…" Moody said, although even Draco knew the words were empty threats. Not only would the Aurors not be able to get past the wards on either of their properties, but they would need Ministry signed court orders to investigate, which would demand that the Minister had cause to suspect Lucius, which currently would never happen.
"As you wish…" Draco responded, making quite sure that Moody knew he wasn't intimidated. "Is that all? I really need to get home before my Mother worries…"
"Oh I bet your mother worries quite a lot these days…" the Auror said, flicking his wand at the door, which unlocked with a sharp click. Draco paused; he hadn't even heard when the door was locked originally. Not that he had expected to be able to flee if needed, but it was still impressive that such a thing had escaped his notice. "You're free to go, just keep your nose clean, you hear me?"
"Yes, sir…" Draco replied, uncaringly bored and almost wishing he could roll his eyes without looking like a common teenager.
As he made it to the door, however, Moody called him back, "Just one more thing Malfoy…" Draco turned, expecting some wild accusation, only to find the man almost right behind him, having moved completely silently across the floor.
"I just want your opinion on something," the man said as he placed a hand into his robe, and drew out something large like a ball, and wrapped in a thick cloth.
Draco froze his features in place as the still glowing chunk of infernal stone was revealed, the fel energy wafting soothingly into the air around them. "Know what this is?" Moody said, staring directly at Draco face for any sign of recognition at all.
Instead, Draco took a large step back, away from Moody and their piece of demonic construct. "I have no idea, but it feels awful." He said, wafting the air in front of him like trying to warn off a bad smell.
"Hmm," Moody said noncommittally, but put the stone away. "Very well, off with you, we have work to be done now and don't need a Hogwart's age kid running about underfoot."
Draco didn't need telling twice, but kept his composure as he walked gracefully down the stairs and to the public Floo entrance in the tavern. Taking only the smallest pinch needed, he Flooed directly home to the entrance hall, and tore out of the fireplace like a demon from a summoning ritual, dropping his soot stained cloak on the ground as he went. The House elves were used to cleaning that sort of mess quickly, and Draco couldn't waste any time in getting to the rest of the Order that was assembled and warning them that Mad-Eye Moody was investigating.
Nearly the entire group was assembled, they all seeming to spend the majority of their summer days here practicing and refining the arts of their Nether magic, but Draco sprinting past them, his eyes only on his own father and Harry, who seemed to be carefully going over and writing down a translation of the Grimoire of Merlin.
They turned however as Draco approached quickly. "What is it?" Harry asked, instantly recognizing the urgency in Draco's face.
Turning more toward his father, who would understand the gravity of the situation far more, and be able to explain it to Harry, Draco panted for a moment before speaking, "the Ministry has put Moody on the case of discovering who attacked the Department of Mysteries, and it seems likely that he got information from Dumbledore. He cornered me just outside the Leaky Cauldron and questioned me, even showing me a piece of infernal stone to try and see if I'd react."
Lucius froze, his body becoming stiff and eye narrowing in cold fury. "Naturally you gave him as little to go on as possible," the man replied, to which Draco nodded.
"I'm not sure I follow the gravity of this announcement," Nobu'tan said honestly, and Lucius turned to him to explain.
"Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody is the most well known and feared Auror on British soil," he said quickly, "the man is known for having the most Dark Wizards locked up in Azkaban because of his actions over any other. He is wily and quite dangerous in a fight and in an investigation…"
Meanwhile however, Draco turned to leave; he needed something to drink, and to change. It had been a far longer day of adventure than he had originally intended, and striving to not be found out by Britain's most infamous Auror was hard work.
