A/N - Sorry for the delayed update, but I totally forgot yesterday was Thursday. But here is the next chapter, better late than never.
Harry's visit to Malfoy Manor to keep the family up to date with what was happening now they'd made some arrests took place mid-morning. He strongly suspected that by the time he arrived at the manor everyone would be pretty anxious for news, but he'd gotten to them as quickly as he possibly could. Even though he'd been at the Ministry since early morning, he'd had plenty to do, including laying formal charges against the four people arrested the previous day.
Aside from the morning he and Ron had been treated to breakfast, most of his meetings at the manor had taken place in the library, but when he arrived he was shown into a large living room by the house elf who answered the door. The stunning living room was over twice the size of any of the rooms in Harry's own house, but yet it still managed to feel welcoming. In fact every time he'd been in the manor it had felt like a proper family home, not the cold, dreaded place he recalled from his one brief visit during the height of the war. As with everything else the Malfoys had worked hard to make a new start and leave the dark days of the past behind them, where they belonged.
Harry wasn't surprised to find all the adults gathered in the room. Nor was he really surprised to find Scorpius was present. But Alex's presence did surprise him. The young wizard was sitting beside his mother on one of the many sofas, looking as though nothing had ever happened to him.
"Don't stare, Harry, it's rude," Hermione chuckled as Harry greeted them, his eyes constantly flicking back towards Alex.
"Sorry Alex, I just didn't expect to see you up and about," Harry said, smiling at the young wizard.
"He's only up temporarily," Daphne said, giving her son a stern glare. "He still needs plenty of rest."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll go back to bed like a good boy once I know what's happening," Alex promised.
"How are your eyes?" Harry asked.
"Getting better each day," Alex replied with a grin. "And don't worry about the staring, I still can't see well enough to notice things like that. I can see you, but you're still a bit out of focus."
"I know all about that," Harry chuckled. "Once I take my glasses off, everything becomes one big blur."
"Have you never thought of fixing your eyesight using magic?" Alex questioned. "Mine can't be corrected because it's too dangerous following all the work I've had done to them, but yours could probably be improved with magic."
"You know, I've never thought of that," Harry admitted with a thoughtful sigh.
"As fascinating as this is, I do believe we have more important things to discuss," Lucius interrupted.
"Yes, sorry," Harry apologised, looking around the room and spotting that everyone was looking anxious, especially Draco, whom Harry suspected had been about to yell at him before Lucius had stepped in.
"Please say you have good news," Hermione said as Harry perched himself on an empty chair.
"I do," Harry confirmed. "We have laid charges against all four of them. The two girls have been given bail, and released into their fathers custody, but the two boys have been remanded in custody until the end of the week."
"What happens at the end of the week?" Scorpius asked.
"The end of the week is when they will each face their official charges in court," Harry explained. "That is when they have the chance to plead guilty or not guilty. The guilty pleas will then be sorted for sentencing, but anyone pleading not guilty will be set a trial date, which I must warn you, could take several months, possibly even a year."
"Why would you feel the need to warn us of that unless one of them is going to plead not guilty?" Draco questioned sharply. "Or are you telling me that one of those little bastards are trying to wriggle out of this?"
"No-one is wriggling out of anything," Harry replied confidently. "We have more than enough evidence to make successful convictions. However, while the girls and Kyle Goyle admitted everything, Xavier Goyle refused to say a word."
"So you think he's going to plead not guilty?" Lucius checked.
"I think it's a possibility," Harry replied honestly. "He may not have said a word, but his body language spoke volumes, and I did not sense one ounce of remorse from him. He dragged three other people into his scheme, two of whom he's supposed to love, and would have been happy to let his parents pay the price for his crimes. So I'm sorry, but unless a few days in jail changes his attitude, I don't see him being big enough to admit to his crimes."
"What happens if this goes to trial?" Scorpius asked. "Will Alex and I need to testify and relive it all?"
"Yes," Harry answered with a nod. "But let's not worry about that right now. For now, let's be grateful that we've made some arrests and know what happened."
"Do we know what happened?" Lucius questioned.
"As I said, the girls and Kyle Goyle were more than forthcoming, and between us I think we know everything."
"Can you tell us?" Alex asked.
"Of course," Harry replied. "As their parents suspected, Xavier and Kyle were turned against your family by their grandmother. I got the impression that Xavier resented you more, but when the chance to get some of what they considered revenge presented itself, Kyle couldn't resist."
"How did they get the chance?" Draco asked. "We've already established that Scorpius's kidnapping with planned, but how did they manage to plan it?"
"Xavier first saw the boys during their first trip to London," Harry explained. "He followed them up to Hogsmeade and heard enough to know they were going to Ireland before returning. So while the boys were away, he made plans."
"Are you saying all the time we were in Hogsmeade, we were being followed?" Scorpius checked with a frown. "I didn't notice a thing."
"Why would you? You had no reason to think someone might be following you, Scorpius," Hermione assured her son.
"Your mother is right," Harry agreed. "You had no reason to believe that you weren't safe. You couldn't have known you were being followed and listened to."
"So what happened when we came back?" Alex questioned. "How did they find us?"
"As Kyle pointed out wizarding London isn't exactly overflowing with hotels, and certainly not ones which would suitable play host to a Malfoy. Xavier and Kyle checked out the likely hotels until they found you. And as luck would have it, when they did find you, they witnessed a conversation between you and the witch on reception and they heard you mention where you would be that evening."
"So I told them where to find us," Alex muttered, looking crushed at the idea of having been the one to lead the kidnappers to his best friend.
"Do not blame yourself, Alex," Scorpius said sternly. "You keep telling me not to blame myself, so neither should you. It didn't matter that they heard you, the point is, they'd found us. Once they'd found us, they would have tracked us down somewhere they could snatch me sooner or later."
"Of course they would," Harry agreed with a nod. "But when they knew where to find you, they set a trap. Xavier roped his girlfriend into luring Scorpius outside, while she got her sister to keep Alex occupied. And I don't know if it might make it easier, but Olivia was spiking your drinks, making you more pliable."
"That does explain a bit," Scorpius muttered. He could remember thinking at the time that he seemed more affected by the drink than normal, but at least now he knew why that was.
"Once the girls had done their bit, the Goyle boys took Scorpius and stashed him in their old holiday home," Harry continued. "From there, Kyle never saw him again. Xavier visited to get the pictures for the ransom and to leave supplies. However, Kyle believed that he was going to give up Scorpius's location once they had the money. He had no idea that Xavier was planning on leaving Scorpius to his fate."
"I do hope that means a charge of attempted murder has been thrown at them?" Lucius remarked.
"We've charged Xavier with attempted murder, but not Kyle," Harry replied. "There's no evidence to suggest he knew about that part of the plot, and I believe him when he claimed not to know. He seemed pretty horrified when he realised how much trouble his brother could have gotten him into if anything had happened to Scorpius."
"What about the money?" Blaise asked. "Why was there two ransom demands?"
"As we suspected, the first was a test," Harry explained. "They wanted to see if Lucius would indeed pay for the return of his grandson, and they wanted to see if the Aurors were watching. I must admit, they did pick up on Ron and I being in The Leaky Cauldron."
"And the second time?" Narcissa pressed.
"I have to say, they were pretty clever with that one," Harry admitted with a slight grimace as he recalled how they'd been played for fools at the second drop. "Kyle worked at The Hog's Head, so there was no booking of the back room. When Lucius turned up, he merely let him out of the back. When he went, he slipped out the back and transferred the money into his bag, which he hid in the cellar. When Ron tuned up, he spun a pack of lies about another wizard being out the back before Lucius arrived. We reached the conclusion they wanted us to reach, which was that someone had hidden and watched Lucius arrive and then take the money after he'd gone. But the truth was, the money was there all along and at the end of his shift, Kyle merely walked away with it."
"Why was the pub never searched?" Lucius questioned.
"It was a bad oversight, but at the time it didn't seem necessary," Harry said. "Ron feels really bad about it, but at the time he had no way of knowing that Kyle was involved. Any Auror would have likely made the same decisions Ron did, I know I would have reacted the same way Ron did."
"I guess it was pretty sneaky," Daphne conceded. "Let's not forget, these boys are former Slytherins. Or at least, I assume they are, I'm not sure I've ever heard Pansy mention which house her boys were in at Hogwarts."
"I'm fairly sure they were Slytherins," Draco said. "But Slytherin or not, it was a cunning ruse and I don't think we can blame Weasley for falling for it. I agree with Potter, in his shoes, we all likely would have done the same."
"Maybe," Lucius conceded with a sigh. "But that was still a lot of gold to lose."
"You'll be happy to know we recovered most of it in Spain," Harry said. "The Spanish Aurors secured the hotel where they were staying, and we found a substantial amount of gold. It looks as though they didn't get much of a chance to spend it."
"At least that's something," Lucius remarked.
"Oh yes, and I have another good piece of news," Harry said, smiling brightly at Scorpius and Alex. "Now we've made some arrests and the evidence is being sorted, we can return your wands. Someone will have to come to the ministry to sign for them, but they're all yours again."
Since day one of the investigation the Ministry had kept hold of Scorpius's wand as it had been found as the scene of a crime. Then when they'd found a second wand at Xavier's flat, which had since been confirmed as belonging to Alex, they had kept that as well as it was evidence that Xavier was involved in the crime. However, both wands had been fully processed and entered into evidence, so there was no reason for them not to return to their owners.
"That would be great," Alex said with a grin. "I feel naked without my wand."
"It's not like you've needed it much," Daphne pointed out to her son. "And you won't be needing it much in the next few weeks either. You've still got to rest, Alex."
"I know, but I can rest better once I have my wand back," Alex retorted. "Just think of all the things I can summon without having to call for help."
"Don't worry, I'll go to the ministry this afternoon and get your wand," Blaise promised.
"I'll come with you and get Scorpius's," Draco offered.
"I can get my own wand," Scorpius argued.
"Fine, you go with Blaise then," Draco said with a shrug.
"It's okay, you can go. I just wanted to point out that I could have gone if I'd wanted to," Scorpius said.
"No-one said you couldn't son, I just thought you would rather stay here with Alex," Draco said softly.
"I would," Scorpius confirmed. "But I do want to be there when my kidnappers face the official charges in court. I need to see their faces."
"We all do," Hermione hissed fiercely. "We will be allowed to attend, won't we?"
"Yes, you can all attend," Harry confirmed. "Once I have timings, I'll get in touch and let you know when everything is happening."
"What can we expect from those who plead guilty?" Draco asked. "Will they be sentenced there and then?"
"More than likely," Harry answered. "I fully expect both girls to plead guilty. Nina seemed pretty much in the dark about most of the plan, but she did know after the fact and did nothing, so her charges are the least severe. I think she'll get community service of some sort. Olivia did know what was going on, so her sentence will depend on how the court are feeling on the day. My guess is she'll either get a small prison sentence, or possibly a suspended sentence with community service."
"And the boys?" Hermione asked. Part of her felt as though the girls should receive harsher punishments, but deep down she knew that it was the Goyle brothers who had been the instigators, and they were the ones who needed locking up.
"Definite prison sentences for both," Harry predicted. "Kyle might get some leniency if he pleads guilty and for what he's told us, but even so, he's looking at a good spell behind bars. Xavier is also looking at a hefty sentence, but it could be worse if he decides to let it go to trial. He won't be acquitted, so all he can achieve be going to trial is getting a harsher sentence."
"Maybe all he wants to achieve is to tell his side of the story," Lucius said quietly. "Maybe he wants to go to trial, so he can stand up and let the whole world know how much he hates me and my family."
"Maybe he does," Harry agreed. "But it won't get him anywhere. It won't win him any sympathy. It might if he had a genuine grievance, but even his own parents don't share his views. As Pansy pointed out, if his grandfather hadn't gone to Azkaban and the Parkinsons hadn't started to struggle financially, she wouldn't have married Gregory, and Xavier would not exist. He blames you for his family not having their fortune, but if they did have it, he wouldn't be around to share in it. The truth is, he was warped by a bitter old woman and he can no longer see reason. He took Scorpius because he could, and because he wanted money. There is no excuse, and no way he is getting away with this. He will end up in Azkaban, whether it's the end of the week if he sees sense and pleads guilty, or in several months when he comes to trial. There is no escaping his fate."