SEPTEMBER 17th, 1997
"Come on Hermione, you're stalling."
"I'm doing no such thing," Hermione huffed, flipping a page in her wizarding genealogy book. "Some of these things are written in code— do you really think that the Malfoys, past or present, would just list out allof their protective enchantments in a book available to the public?"
"No, so what's the point of trying to find information that isn't there?" Ron asked. "If they didn't write it down, they didn't write it down."
"But maybe there's something I missed…" Hermione thumbed through the pages again, but scoffed in outrage as Ron snatched the book out of her hand.
"You've read it front to back multiple times over the last few days," he said, holding the book up above his head, ignoring her efforts to reach for it. "If you were going to find something, you would have found it by now."
"Ronald Weasley, you give me that back—"
"Okay, that's enough of that," Harry said, striding between them and grabbing the book out of Ron's hand. Hermione beamed in triumph, holding her hand out for the book, but Harry didn't give it to her.
"Where are the safest places to Apparate to, based on what you know right now?" he asked.
Hermione huffed. "Every enchantment listed is on the perimeter of the actual manor grounds. The surrounding forest appears to be safe. But—"
"Butto your point, wizards like the Malfoys wouldn't list out every possible protection they have in a book like this, so some of it we're just going to have to check for when we arrive," Harry said pointedly, making Hermione cross her arms over her chest. "I don't mind a bit of a hike— is there some landmark in the forest surrounding the manor that we could Apparate to, and then approach the place on foot?"
Hermione bit her lip. "Not really, to be honest. And I don't think we can Apparate to just a random spot in the forest— too easy to get Splinched that way."
"There's nothing at all?" Kathleen asked. She was sitting at the dining table, ostensibly to allow the trio to make their decisions, but Harry could sense she couldn't resist saying something.
"Well," Hermione said, biting her lip again. "There might be something, but it isgoing to be a hike— there used to be a Muggle village out in the forest, but it's gone now. We could Apparate there, and then head out on foot, but I'm guessing it would take us at least an hour to walk to the manor, if not longer—"
"That's fine," Harry interrupted. "We're not in a rush— probably better to slowly approach anyway, so we can be looking for enchantments. Better to go slowly but safely, right?"
"Okay, let me just read the entry about the village again," Hermione said. "It was very short, but just to be safe…"
Ron pulled on his face with his hands as Harry handed her the book. "Hermione, I appreciate that you keep us safe and that you keep track of everything for us, but sometimes, you can really go a little overboard."
"Better over-prepared than under-prepared," she said primly as she skimmed through the book. "Hmm. Nothing particularly interesting. Just a Muggle settlement, but this book reports that it's been abandoned for centuries, and this book isn't exactly recent. Bit of an odd placement though…"
"How so?" Harry asked.
"Well, it's just very isolated. This forest is massive, bigger than the Forbidden Forest for sure. This town would have been cut off from other settlements of the time…"
"Do we have any reason to think it's cursed?" Ron asked.
"Well, no…"
"Perfect." He took the book out of Hermione's hand again. "Then I say let's go."
"Sounds good to me," Kathleen said, jumping to her feet before Hermione could argue. "Should we pack up?"
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. "I guess we're doing this then. I'll go start taking down our enchantments."
She walked out of the tent, and after a brief moment, Harry followed her.
"I know they can both seem impulsive," he said quietly, coming to stand beside her as she raised her wand and began murmuring countercharms. "But they're right. The longer we delay, the more danger people are in, like all those Muggle-borns at the Ministry. And I know we've had a hard time coming up with a concrete plan, but we've managed to destroy the locket, and we've got the sword with us to destroy more. Scoping out a likely hiding place for Death Eaters is a good plan considering we have no other ideas."
And it didn't hurt that they might learn something more about Ginny this way. The now-folded painting of the Antipodean Opaleye was burning a hole in Harry's pocket; during the nights, Malfoy's and Zabini's conversation played on a loop in his mind. Were they really plotting against Voldemort? It was so hard to imagine… but if they were, Harry wanted to know about it, and Malfoy Manor seemed as good a place as any to look for information on Draco Malfoy's plans.
Hermione nodded at him, still muttering charms under her breath. Harry watched as their protective layers fell one by one, and when he turned around, Ron and Kathleen had succeeded in packing up the tent and putting it away inside Hermione's bag. Kathleen walked up to them both and extended the bag to Hermione, who took it and slung it over her shoulder.
"We're going to need to go in groups of two," Hermione said, glancing for the briefest second at Kathleen. "Harry, let me show you where on the map—"
"Why can't I do it?" Ron grumbled. "I Splinch myself one time and now I'm never allowed to lead Apparition again."
"Fine, if you want to do it. Here." Hermione pulled the book out of her bag and showed Ron the map. "It's almost exactly due east, see? Just a little—"
"A little north, yeah," Ron said. "Okay. I can do that."
"Harry, you should look too. Just in case, so we all know where we're going."
Harry stepped forward and looked over Ron's shoulder at the book, observing the map of the Malfoys' lands. It really did look massive, and very easy to get lost in. Still, he noted down the location of the Muggle village, visualizing where it would be in relation to the manor, and reminded himself that this was the best next step they could take.
"Okay," he said. "Once we get there, we need to stick together. We don't know what we could run into, so we need to be on high alert and watch each other's backs. We're only there to gather information— no matter what we see, we stay hidden, agreed?"
"Agreed," the other three chorused, nodding their heads.
"Okay then. Well… I guess I'll see you on the other side."
He grabbed onto Hermione's arm and watched as Kathleen grabbed onto Ron's, and he allowed himself one final deep breath before twisting toward Apparition, his mind on the Muggle village Hermione had identified. Air compressed around him, so tight that it felt like he might cease to exist if it lasted too long, and then, with a gasp, they landed. A resounding cracknearby told him that Ron and Kathleen had made it as well.
"It actually worked!" Hermione cried.
"What do you mean it actually worked?"
"I was worried the location still wouldn't be specific enough."
"You say this afterwe Apparate?"
"There wasn't any more information to be found in the book," she said pointedly. "This was as close as we were going to get."
Harry laughed despite himself, and Hermione smiled as they looked around at the grassy field.
"Not exactly what I expected," Ron said. "Where are all the buildings?"
"Rotted away, most likely," Hermione replied, squatting down to look at the ground. "It's been abandoned for centuries. You can see evidence of the foundation stones though, look."
"Why do you think it became abandoned?" Kathleen asked, taking a few steps forward to look around. The mid afternoon sun was shining brightly, and a light breeze blew through the grass, making it look like it had waves as it rustled.
"I'm not sure," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Like I said, it's very isolated. It would have been hard to survive here. They could have died out due to plague, maybe, or just a general lack of resources. Or they could have decided to move."
"Or maybe the Malfoys terrorized them into leaving," Ron said darkly. "Can't imagine they wanted to share any of their land with Muggles."
"I hope not, that would be horrible," Hermione said.
"Well, whatever happened here is ancient history," Harry said, turning his attention toward the forest behind them. "We should get moving— I don't want to get stuck out here after dark if we can avoid it."
The group murmured their agreement, and Hermione cast the Point Mespell, allowing them to see what direction was north, and so thereby letting them travel west toward the manor.
This forest wasn't as dark as the Forbidden Forest, but it felt just as foreboding to Harry as they walked along, picking their way through the underbrush. He couldn't pinpoint anything in particular that was wrong— birds sang in the trees, there was plenty of light to see by, there was no threat… but the forest felt alive, almost sentient, and not particularly welcoming. It was suspicious, Harry supposed, of these newcomers crashing through its lands uninvited. Every once in a while, a gust of wind would rustle through the trees, rattling the leaves and making the group jump. It sounded almost like whispers, like someone saying something but it was garbled.
"Do you think this place could be haunted?" Harry asked as he stepped over a fallen tree branch.
"Don't say things like that," Hermione hissed, glancing over her shoulder at him before looking forward again. She walked with her wand out in front of her, and every minute or so she murmured, "Appare Vestigium," which Harry had learned from her was used to detect traces of magic. So far, they had found nothing.
The group kept walking, mostly in silence, and Harry's mind wandered once again to Malfoy. Malfoy plotting against Voldemort… with Ginny? Sometimes he convinced himself that maybe he had somehow misunderstood, or that Malfoy had been putting on some kind of front for Zabini, but really it had seemed like the opposite… like the Malfoy in Umbridge's office had been a front for this other Malfoy that Harry didn't recognize.
He had looked so desperate as he had held onto the desk, carefully controlled but like he could snap at any moment— just like he had when Harry had caught him in Myrtle's bathroom. Something wasn't going well. But was that a good thing or a bad thing as far as Ginny was concerned?
Almost without thinking about it, he pulled out the dragon painting, smoothing out the creases he had made by folding it and unfolding it so many times. He didn't need to look at the back to remember Ginny's words— he had read them so often he had memorized them.
"Native to the wilds of New Zealand, Antipodean Opaleyes are widely considered to be the most beautiful of all dragons thanks to the pearly sheen of their scales. Moreover, they are loyal creatures and not aggressive by nature, only attacking when provoked or cornered." — A reminder of who you truly are, for when things get dark. The gods remember us. We are not forgotten. All my love, Ginny.
A reminder of who you truly are. Harry didn't know anything about gods and what that part of Ginny's note might mean, but the rest seemed clear— Ginny believed that Malfoy, like an Antipodean Opaleye, was loyal and not aggressive by nature, that he would only attack when he was provoked or cornered.
And, if he gave equal weight to the first part of the note, that he was beautiful.
Harry generally ignored that part of the note. It didn't clue him in to anything about Malfoy, and if he thought about it too long it made his stomach hurt.
All my love, Ginny…
He shook his head, folded up the painting, and put it back in his pocket. Evidence pointed toward Malfoy potentially trying to double-cross Voldemort, but they weren't anywhere close to certain, and if it wastrue, Malfoy was in a heap load of danger. His mind flashed on Regulus Black, on his horrible fate drowning at the hands of the Inferi, and he briefly imagined Malfoy in his place, being dragged under the water. It would be tragic indeed if the first good thing Malfoy had ever done in his life ended up being the thing to get him killed.
All the more reason it was a good idea for the four of them to scope out Malfoy Manor. The Malfoys were at the center of what was going on with Ginny, who seemed to be at the center of Voldemort's plans. Whether or not that would lead to more information on the Horcruxes, Harry wasn't sure, but if Malfoy had some information or plans to stop Voldemort, Harry wanted to know about it.
They continued to walk on, and the sun sank lower into the sky. At least an hour had passed, if not longer, and Hermione seemed to relax the longer they walked without running into imminent danger. She cast her detector spell maybe every two minutes, or every three, now, instead of every forty-five seconds. Ron and Kathleen held their wands out, but not in an immediately aggressive stance. They meandered along, occasionally tripping over a tree root and cursing under their breath, but by and large the group remained silent, the weight of the forest air heavy over them. It almost reminded Harry of being in church. The Dursleys weren't particularly religious, but they had taken him a couple of times to Sunday service in his early childhood, mostly to appease Uncle Vernon's very religious parents. The air here had the same kind of hushed quality to it, like there was something important Harry was supposed to pay attention to.
"We're not far," Hermione said, glancing back toward the group. "Maybe another ten minutes or so and we'll hit the— ahh!"
Hermione screamed, but before Harry could look to see what was going on, he screamed himself as he was suddenly flipped upside down, suspended somehow by his ankles. Ron and Kathleen let out similar yelps beside him. He held onto his wand and looked around, trying to see their attacker, but there was no one there.
"Oh bloody hell," Ron cursed, trying and failing to right himself. "What is this?"
"Some kind of invisible perimeter spell," Hermione gasped, her face already turning red. "Not in the book, of course. Relashio!"
She aimed her wand at her own ankles, trying to dispel the invisible bindings, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. Hermione's arms, and Harry's and Ron's and Kathleen's, suddenly bound themselves tightly to their bodies, like they were surrounded by invisible ropes. Harry kept his grip on his wand, but only barely, and he couldn't angle his wrist to aim.
"Well that didn't work," Kathleen deadpanned, and Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Why was nothing ever easy?
They dangled for a few long moments in confused, frustrated silence.
"Okay, let's think this through," Hermione said in a deliberately calm voice.
"A little hard to do that with all that blood rushing to your head, Granger."
Harry's eyes widened as he looked to his left and saw Draco Malfoy emerge from the trees, a predatory smile on his pointed face.
"Malfoy—"
"Be quiet, Potter. You're at my mercy now."
SEPTEMBER 17th, 1997
Draco sat at his desk, pretending to read Umbridge's newest pamphlet— this one was about the moral benefits to society of complying with government regulations— and tapping his foot, waiting for the day to be over. He couldn't go visit Ginny today as he actually had to readthis stupid thing, and Umbridge had made him go to court this morning even though he wasn't scheduled to. This job, though he knew it was important, was absolutely infuriating.
He and Ginny had had a couple of more long "beach" dates, which were mostly fun but also involved them discussing Voldemort's soul fragments and what their next step should be. He had shown her how he had acquired the locket and the cup, which was passingly interesting but not particularly helpful, and she had not dreamed of him the next two nights. No matter what Draco told Ginny about it, he was finding it exceedingly difficult to be patient with this whole thing. He trusted that Ginny was right, that going slower was better and less likely to arouse suspicion, but it also meant that they had to keep up their charade even longer, that every day that passed was anotheropportunity for everything to fall apart and be ruined.
So risky. Everything was always so risky.
He turned the page of the pamphlet, resigning himself to the fact that he would actually have to read it, when his left hand burned.
"Ah!" He cried out and dropped the pamphlet, clutching his hand.
"Are you alright, Mr. Malfoy?" asked the nearest Ministry worker.
"Yes, I'm fine," he snapped, still clutching his hand. "Get back to work."
The Ministry worker quickly did as he was bade, and Draco looked down at his hand, perplexed. It burned like the Dark Mark did, but it wasn't the Mark burning… it was his signet ring. That had certainly never happened before, and his father had never said anything about it…
It burned without ceasing, making Draco grit his teeth together.
"I'll be back," he said, abruptly rising to his feet. "Stay on task."
Not waiting for the workers' acknowledgment, he hurried out of the room, toward the nearest bathroom. He hurried into a stall, gritting his teeth, and once he had shut the door, he looked down at the ring. It looked perfectly normal, but it burned like it was on fire.
"What the hell—" he murmured as he reached for it, intending to pull it off, but he didn't get the chance to pull it off, for once he touched it, he promptly disappeared from the Ministry bathroom and found himself in the forest.
He gasped as he landed, immediately reaching for his wand and looking around for any sign of danger. There was nothing. The ring had taken him to the forest surrounding the manor, almost like a Portkey— but why?
Distant voices echoed, putting Draco on high alert. Could the ring have sensed intruders? But wait… he recognized those voices…
"Oh fuck."
What the fuckwere Harry Potter and his friends doing outside of Malfoy Manor?
Ginny. We have a problem,he said urgently as he crept as quietly as he could toward the group. They must have gotten caught in some type of spell connected to the manor— they were dangling upside down in the air, strung up by invisible ropes. The same spell that caught them was apparently linked to the family's signet ring. What else was it linked to? Would Father know that they were here?
What's wrong?
Potter, your brother, Granger, and Kathleen are in the forest outside of the manor, caught in some kind of defense spell. They aren't hurt, but they're definitely trapped.
What?Ginny shrieked, and Draco grimaced.
I know. I don't know what to do. If I let them go, their minds are wide open for someone else, like Bellatrix, to see me helping them if they get themselves captured again. They can't get down without help. But obviously I can't turn them in… but if I DON'T turn them in, and the Dark Lord finds out I've seen them…
Can you hide the memories in their heads? she asked. Like you did with Kathleen, before.
I'm not sure. I would have to test it, and I don't think they'll be thrilled about letting me…
Test it anyway. Act like you did the night your father helped me— pretend. And if one of them is like me and you can't hide the memories… then… well, then tell me and we'll figure it out together. But if you can hide the memories, Draco, you can tell them about what we know! Find out what they know. Maybe we can work together.
Oh Merlin. He took a deep breath. Okay. Here goes nothing.
He took another deep breath, pulling up his deepest levels of Occlumency, and walked closer to the group, imagining he was walking atop the sea.
"Okay, let's think this through," Granger said in that prissy, affected voice he hated so much.
Maybe this round of pretend wouldn't be so hard after all.
"A little hard to do that with all that blood rushing to your head, Granger."
He felt rather than saw the group collectively panic as they turned toward him, and he pushed his own fear down as he smiled at Potter.
"Malfoy—"
"Be quiet, Potter. You're at my mercy now."
Kathleen actually had the nerve to snarl at him as she twisted in her invisible bindings, trying and failing to aim her wand at him.
Not good. He couldn't let this turn into an actual fight, one that he definitely would not win if they got down somehow.
"Hi Kathleen," he said with a smirk. "Long time no see. Expelliarmus."
Her wand flew out of her hand, knocked away to the ground, and one by one, Draco did the same to Potter, Weasley, and Granger. Weasley managed to fire off a Knockback Jinx, but his aim was poor and he missed Draco by a mile, which only made Draco laugh. He walked forward and knelt down to pick up their wands. He pocketed them and rose to his feet again, taking a step back to survey the group.
Their faces were quite red at this point. Maybe he could flip them over again… but what if that broke the binding? He couldn't let that happen before he knew the situation with their memories.
"Well, of all the things I expected to run into on my way home this afternoon, I have to say, Harry Potter wasn't one of them," he said, letting that familiar malice drip into his voice as he stared at Potter. Draco the Death Eater had to be in charge here. "What amI to do with you now?"
"Malfoy, please just let us go—" Granger started.
"Let you go?" he asked in a mocking voice. "Now why would I do that? The Dark Lord would be very, veryupset with me if I did that, and I can promise you, I'm not interested in receiving a punishment from the Dark Lord."
Or receiving another one, rather. The scars on his back twinged, memories of old pain floating to the surface.
"Where's Ginny?" Weasley demanded, his face redder than his hair.
Draco smirked. "She's otherwise occupied at the moment, but I'll tell her you say hello."
"Leave her alone, you creep!" Kathleen yelled, still struggling. "Let us go!"
"I'm not going to do either of those things," he said with a practiced shrug, ignoring the discomfort in his stomach and the memory of Ginny calling Crabbe a creep. "Funny timing you have though— you must have just missed your mother, she was just with the Dark Lord a few days ago. No idea where she went after that, though."
"I'll kill you!"
"That seems doubtful given your current position."
He strolled forward, debating. He was going to have to look in their minds even though they wouldn't be willing— he might even have to Imperius them if they put up too much of a fight. He already knew he could hide memories in Kathleen's mind, but the others… he had no idea. He could only hope that mindscapes didn't have a genetic component, because if Ron's mind was anything like Ginny's… they were all screwed.
"Nothing to say, Potter?" he asked. "You're unusually quiet. Not going to beg for your life?"
"No," Potter said in a surprisingly even voice. "Not from you."
Draco raised his eyebrows, unsure of what that meant, but shook it off quickly. "Too bad— not that it would have helped, but it would have made a nice memory for me. Oh well. By the way, I know you stole my painting— you don't happen to still have it, do you? It took Ginny hours to make, she was so disappointed it got lost—"
"Let me down and I'll show it to you," Potter said calmly, and Draco laughed.
"Very funny. You know I'm not going to do that."
"What are you going to do then?" Potter said, a hint of challenge in his voice.
"I'm going to turn you in to the Dark Lord, of course," Draco replied, his stomach squirming. "But first, I just need to check a few things. Want to make sure I'm giving him complete information, after all. But who should I check first?"
Kathleen grew rigid, and his stomach twisted as he realized how very afraid she was of the possibility of him using Legilimency on her again.
Nothing to be done for it now, he reassured himself. You don't need to check her again anyway.
"Hmm," he said, pacing in front of them, making a show of considering. "Mudbloods first, I think. Hold still, Granger."
"Leave her alone!" Weasley bellowed, thrashing so hard in his bindings that he swung a bit in the air, but Draco ignored him.
He walked up to Granger, who was also struggling, and cupped her red face in his hands, holding her still.
"Malfoy please—"
"Shh," he whispered. "It won't hurt."
He locked eyes with her, but Granger immediately realized what he was trying to do and closed hers. He bit back a sigh of irritation, but took a deep breath and refocused instead. He didn't need to look for any particular memory, he didn't need to linger, he justneeded to know her mindscape… He shouldn't need eye contact for that, right?
"Legilimens," he said, and plunged toward Granger's consciousness, imagining her eyes and falling through the pupils, just like he would if he was really looking at them. It took extra focus to do without eye contact, but he could do it. Granger was fighting him, but he didn't need to linger, he just needed—
He laughed. "I should have known. A library, Granger, really? You're nothing if not predictable."
A library was great news, perfect news. Of course Granger would be good at compartmentalizing things. He slipped out of her consciousness, going as gently as he could, and when he let go of her face, Granger opened her eyes and frowned at him.
"What are you—"
"Ah ah. Be quiet, you're going to distract me. Weasley next."
"Fuck off!"
He really was thrashing around quite a lot. Immobilizing him might work… or would it be better to make some false threat?
He went for the threat.
"Weasley, if you want any chance of your Mudblood girlfriend walking out of this situation alive, you'll hold still for me."
Not so false of a threat— if any of them, Draco included, were to stay alive, Weasley did indeed need to hold still.
"You'll kill us all anyway! Why should I listen to you?"
Draco sighed. "You say that, but I dohave some favor with the Dark Lord. All three of you are on the no-kill list, actually— all thanks to darling Ginny— but there's tiers to the list, you see, and Granger's bottom rung. I promise you—"
"Listen to him, Ron," Potter interrupted, and Draco paused.
"What?"
"Whatever information you're looking for, you probably found in Hermione's head already. We all know the same things, at least as far as what you'd be interested in, so you're just confirming what you already know."
Draco narrowed his eyes. Potter was lying— but about what, Draco couldn't be sure. He didn't have time to worry about it now though. He had wasted enough time already.
"Well, what'll it be, Weasley? You can either hold still, or I can immobilize you."
Weasley had stopped struggling, though the glare on his face was as fierce as any Ginny had ever given.
"Do your worst."
"Gladly. Legilimens." Draco focused, holding eye contact with Weasley, noting how different his eyes were from Ginny's, and he dropped down, finding himself in the Burrow— somewhere absolutely full to the brim with hiding places. More good luck.
"Very imaginative, Weasley," he said, slipping out almost as quickly as he had entered. "Very creative."
"What are you babbling about?"
"Nothing you would understand, I'm sure."
He walked away from Weasley and toward Potter, his heart pounding. Potter did not struggle. His face was impassive, staring at Draco as he approached. Draco smirked at him, hiding the fact that he was unnerved. If Potter's mindscape was as useful as Granger's or Weasley's, that would mean he could actually hide memories in all of their minds… that they might stand a chance of being safe.
"And now the grand prize," he said softly. "Look at me, Potter. Legilimens."
Potter did not resist— he held eye contact with Draco as Draco dropped down. He was, in fact, so cooperative that Draco almost immediately became suspicious, but he reminded himself that Potter, by all accounts, was a terrible Occlumens and that he was very unlikely to be able to hide anything from Draco this way. He dropped down, focusing all of his effort on the spell, and found the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch taking shape around him.
Hmm. Not as ideal, but at least it was a physical place.
"Tricky," he said out loud, and he felt Potter's mind grow tense. He walked along the grass of the pitch, considering. Certainly fewer hiding places than any of the others, but maybe there was still a chance…
He walked toward the edge of the pitch, toward the locker rooms, and let out a deep, deep sigh of relief when Potter's mindscape allowed him entrance. Rows of lockers came into view, and there was even someone's forgotten gym bag on the bench, hanging open and full of worn Quidditch gear.
"Thank fucking Merlin," he murmured as he withdrew, taking a deep breath. It would work. It would actually work.
Momentarily overwhelmed, he turned around and covered his face with his hands.
"My mind that upsetting for you, Malfoy?" Potter quipped, a confidence in his voice that Draco now knew was faked. He had been terrified to let Draco in his mind, but he had done it anyway, and the entire time Draco had been on the pitch, Potter had held Ginny's smiling face front and center.
"Hardly," he said. "Message received, Potter."
It's going to work, he sent to Ginny. All of them have minds that will allow me to hide memories.
That's wonderful!
He could feel Ginny's elation from here, and he smiled despite himself.
Now I just have to get them to listen to me.
Let me help.
We'll see. Let me try first.
He turned around again and took a deep breath. "You're in luck. Change of plans. Seeing as you all look like you're about to explode at this point, I'd like to turn you right side up, but I don't want you to run away or try to attack me, so I'm going to tie you up."
The four of them looked at each other, bewildered. Draco ignored them; they would know soon enough. Four Incarcerousspells later, and they were well and truly bound.
"Now how do I flip you over?" he mused.
"You mean you don't know how?" Weasley blustered.
"Considering people don't usually wander up to the manor on foot, no, Weasley, I'm not overly familiar with this spell."
"How did you know we were here?" Granger gasped, breathless at this point.
"My ring," he said, holding his hand up for her to see. "Family heirloom."
"Try touching it to one of us."
Draco walked up to Granger and touched his ring to her forehead. She tumbled unceremoniously to the ground, letting out a loud oomphas she landed.
"Oops," Draco said. "Sorry about that. Guess you're right, Granger. Good call."
He walked up to Kathleen, who flinched away from him, but she could only move so far. He let her tumble to the ground, and then released Weasley and Potter.
"Give us our wands back," Kathleen demanded, righting herself immediately.
"In a few minutes. We have a lot to talk about, and I'd prefer to do it without you hexing me first."
"So does this mean you're not turning us in, then?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.
Draco opened his mouth to respond, but Potter spoke first.
"He's not. We were right— I was right. He's plotting against You-Know-Who."
Terror seized Draco's stomach. How the bloody hell could Potter have figured that out when Draco hadn't interacted with him since May?
"Come again?" he asked, trying to sound natural.
"I overheard you. At the Ministry. With Zabini. Two men and a saint, right?"
Fuck.
How's it going? Ginny interrupted, oblivious to the conversation. Tell them I say hi.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. This was going to be very, very awkward.
"Let's just do this one thing at a time," he said, taking a deep breath. "Ginny says hi."
Potter blinked. "Like… in general, or…?"
"We have a… hmm. A link, I guess you could say. We can communicate mentally. She knows I'm with you now."
That was a basic enough explanation for them, wasn't it?
"You're lying," Kathleen said. "Ginny would never—"
"Ginny would do a lot of things, actually," he interrupted, momentary irritation flaring. "I understand that you hate me— believe me, I understand— but things are… different, now. I have information for you, and I think you might have information for me."
"We're not telling you anything," Weasley said.
"What about Ginny? Would you tell her?"
"I would, but she's not here."
Draco sighed. "And I can't bring her here. All I can do is convey messages."
"Convenient," Kathleen sneered.
"Very, actually— it's saved both of our skins numerous times."
What's going on?
Ugh.
Patience, will you? It's difficult having two conversations at once. They want to talk to you, not me, but they don't believe me about our link.
Tell them to ask something only I would know.
"Alright, Weasley, on orders from your sister— ask me something only she would know. Anything at all."
Weasley frowned at him before looking at Granger.
"Or any of you, I suppose," Draco continued. "Anything."
"What did Ginny tell Romilda Vane Ron had a tattoo of?" Harry asked.
Draco stifled a snort. "Alright. Hold please."
What did you tell Romilda Vane Ron had a tattoo of?
Ginny giggled. A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where.
Diabolical, Weasley,Draco said with a smirk.
"A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where," Draco said in a passing imitation of Ginny's tone.
"That's true," Potter said, shrugging as much as he could within the confines of the ropes. Weasley looked at him in outrage, and Potter actually laughed.
"I don't trust it," Kathleen said. "You know he's a Legilimens, and he could control Ginny with that tattoo. He could have gotten that information from her a long time ago."
"It's awfully specific—" Potter started, but Draco interrupted.
"Ah, they told you about that, did they? I know you lot saw my birthday party, such as it was— Goyle paid the price there, you can rest easy knowing that." He sighed. "It's true that I'm a Legilimens, and that Ginny is bound to me through my Dark Mark, and it's true that we have a mental link that I'm using to communicate with her right now, andit's true that I…"
He trailed off.
"That you what?" Potter asked, his eyes piercing.
Why was it so hard to say out loud?
"That I'm helping Ginny take down the Dark Lord," he whispered, then immediately covered his face with his hands. "Fucking hell. That's the first time I've said that out loud."
Well? Anything?
"Your sister is bloody impatient, Weasley."
"If that's all true, then why act the way you did when you first caught us?" Granger asked.
"Because I had to know it was safe enough to tell you. This may be a shock to you, but the Dark Lord would kill me if he knew that I found you and let you go, and I promise you, that would put Ginny in a verybad spot. So I tested your minds to see if I can hide memories in them— I believe Kathleen is generally familiar with the process."
"No!" Kathleen gasped, struggling against the ropes. "I won't let you!"
"It won't be like before. I'd actually like to fix what I left behind, if you'll let me. But I have to hide the memories of this conversation once we go our separate ways, in case you lot are captured again. It protects me, and it protects Ginny, and it protects you, given what I'm about to tell you. You'll still remember it, but people who go looking won't immediately see it."
He could practically hear Granger's brain churning from here.
"What advice did I give Ginny during the summer between her third and fourth year?" she asked, eyes narrowed.
"Hold please."
Another question. What advice did Granger give you during the summer between your third and fourth year?
Oh that's embarrassing.
"She says, oh that's embarrassing."
"Not a good enough answer, Malfoy."
They're not going to take that as an answer, unfortunately.
I didn't mean for you to tell them that! Ugh, that's even more embarrassing.
Damn it, Weasley! What was the advice?
To date other boys, and not focus on Harry so much, she said, and he could hear the awkwardness in her voice. That if I did that, and relaxed a little bit, maybe he could get to know the real me.
Awkward for her to tell him that, given everything, and awkward for him to then tell that to Potter. Nothing to be done for it though.
He cleared his throat. "She says, and I quote, to date other boys, and not focus on Harry so much. That if I did that, and relaxed a little bit, maybe he could get to know the real me."
Granger's eyes widened. "He's definitely telling the truth. That even sounds like Ginny, the way he phrased it."
"I still don't believe it."
Kathleen still doesn't believe it.
Kathleen, I'm so sorry for everything that's happened— when I found out about your mum I did absolutely everything I could to make sure she would live. She's okay now—Snape helped her, and they let her go. I'm not sure where she went afterwards, but I know she's strong— she was fighting to get away even when she was so terribly hurt. I'm glad you're with Harry and the others now— they need someone like you, someone who's willing to say the hard things and to jump in and try something even if you're scared. I know Draco hurt you so, so badly, and I understand if you never forgive him. All I can tell you is that he's suffered for it— it didn't go unpunished. There's so much I'd like to tell you, but there isn't time— I need you to trust Draco now. If we want to take You-Know-Who down for good, we have to work together.
Draco repeated the words as Ginny spoke them, his voice hitching a little as she talked about Draco's role in Kathleen's life, and the supposed punishment he had suffered. Kathleen's face grew less and less guarded as he talked, and when Ginny was done speaking, Draco added, "I'm really, truly sorry, Kathleen. I know I said it in the Astronomy Tower, and even though I meant it at the time, that doesn't do anything to take away what I did to you. I think maybe the only thing that can is me fighting this fight, and in order for me to do that, I need us all to work together, just like Ginny said."
"You... you really can fix my head?" she asked softly. "Fix the memories?"
"I think so," he said, taking a deep breath. "It might take me a minute, but I think so."
Kathleen took a similarly deep breath. "I still hate you, but... I can trust you for the moment. For Ginny."
Draco smiled. "Believe it or not, she is all this has ever been for as far as I'm concerned."
"Did you rape my sister?"
Draco froze before looking at Weasley.
"No. I didn't."
"How can I believe you?"
What's wrong? Ginny asked. You got upset.
Wait.
"I know it didn't look like it, but I promise you that that memory you saw is one of the worst days of my life. Not the worst, but one of the worst. Everything I've done, everything I've done, for a very, very long time now, has been to protect your sister from even worse danger. I don't expect anyone, including her, to forgive me for what I have done, but I promise you, I have never—"
His voice hitched in his throat, and he embarrassingly realized he was close to crying. Why wasn't his Occlumency enough here? Why couldn't he—
Because you're telling the truth, Ginny said sadly. A good Occlumens is also a good liar, and you're being honest with them.
How much of that did you hear?he demanded.
None of it, since you weren't speaking to me, until the Occlumency bit.
"It's alright, Draco."
Potter's voice snapped Draco's attention away from Ginny.
"What?"
"Obviously a lot has happened, and we want an explanation, but, bottom line, I believe you. I believe you and Ginny are working together and that, despite past actions… you don't want to hurt her."
Draco let out a sharp breath, not quite able to believe his ears.
"I believe you too," Granger said. "If you were going to turn us in, you would have done it by now, and you clearly have a connection to Ginny. We're not friends, obviously, but maybe, at least for now… we can be allies?"
Weasley looked less convinced. "I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, but if you have information about how to take down You-Know-Who… I'm all ears."
That might as well have been a shining endorsement, coming from Weasley. He looked toward Kathleen, afraid to hope, feeling surprisingly vulnerable.
"Can you trust me enough to work with me, this one last time?" he asked softly.
"I want you to fix my head. If you do that— put all my memories back correctly, don't leave anything out, don't hide anything or twist anything— then maybe I can take a step towards forgiving you."
"I can do that," Draco said breathlessly, nodding at her. He had never tried it before, but hell… he could do it, couldn't he?
He glanced around. The sun was getting closer to setting, and Father hadn't come out here, which implied he hadn't been alerted the same way Draco had been, but they were still awfully close to the manor…
"Listen," he said, and looked back at the group. "I recognize that this is a big ask right out of the gate, but we're very close to the manor grounds here. I had no idea this spell existed before you arrived, and I'm worried about it potentially alerting my father somehow. I want to move you to a different location so we can finish talking without a rush."
"Then I think that means you need to trust us to Apparate," Potter said. "Trust goes both ways, right? And we're risking way more by letting you Apparate us somewhere than you are by letting us do it ourselves."
Draco bit his lip. He hadn't intended to give them their wands back until he was ready to leave them; four against one were horrible odds, particularly when Draco couldn't call anyone for backup. Could they be trying to trick him?
Hello? Earth to Draco. Did that work?
He laughed and shook his head, ignoring the glances the others exchanged. Yes, I think so. I need to take them somewhere safer to talk. Merlin, this is mental— not how I expected my day to go.
Who knows, maybe this is our lucky break!
Maybe.
He took a deep breath. "Alright— but I want a compromise. I hide the memory of this little encounter first, and then I'll give you your wands back. That way if you decide to split on me, my cover is still protected. And if you all decide to attack me… well, we'll just see how the Malfoy lands feel about that."
Mostly a bluff, but then again, what the hell did he know? He hadn't known about this spell. Maybe there were others.
"Do we all agree?" Potter asked the group, and Draco resisted the urge to remind him that that piece had never been optional. Luckily, the three of them nodded, and one by one, Draco approached them and dropped into their minds to hide this moment, just as his father had done with Ginny. What had he called it? A singular, highly charged event?
He saved Kathleen for last, letting her see that the other three were breathless but otherwise uninjured as he worked, and he took extra care to be gentle as he dropped in to the familiar cafe, hiding the memory under an overturned milk carton.
"That really is remarkable magic," Granger said once he turned away from Kathleen. "Who taught you that?"
"Mostly myself, to be honest. I learned a bit from Snape and a bit from my father, but most of it has just been through trial and error."
"That's… really incredible, Malfoy."
"Uh. Thanks, Granger…"
Very weird. Too weird. But they were wasting time. Fighting his own self preservation instincts, he dispelled the ropes, allowing the group to rise to their feet.
"There's some ruins of a Muggle village not too far from here—" he started.
"We know," Weasley interrupted, rubbing his wrists. "That's where we Apparated to in order to get here."
Draco blinked. "How did you know about it?"
"I read it in a book," Granger said, and Draco laughed, shaking his head.
"Of course you read it in a book. Obviously. Silly me."
"Is that where we're meeting, then?" she continued, her voice growing a bit sterner. "And… and we're all in agreement on a cease-fire, at least with how things currently stand?"
"Considering I just cut all of your ropes, yes, I think I'm in agreement, Granger."
The others nodded at each other, ignoring him, and he sighed as he tossed their wands back toward them.
"Alright— so on Gryffindor's honor that you won't collectively murder me… see you there."
He Disapparated before they could respond— and before they could hex him, a small, selfish part noted. Four on one would really be a veryunfair fight…
I'm taking them to the remains of Alys's village, he told Ginny as he landed, looking over the grassy field toward the forest beyond, where he knew the standing stones lay. I'll tell them as much or as little detail as you want about that. If you want me to just tell them about Voldemort's soul, I'll do that, but if you want me to tell them more… I'll do that too.
Ginny was silent for a long moment, long enough for the others to appear maybe fifty feet away from him. Then she said, You can tell them about Alys, and the Morrigan, and all of the rest of it. Anything that might help us defeat You-Know-Who. But… don't tell them the details about what the manor was like. They won't understand. I would rather tell them myself, once it's all over. And don't tell them about… about Rookwood. Not in detail.
Okay, he said softly. I won't.
I love you. You're being so brave.
A word that wasn't often applied to him. Maybe your Gryffindor essence is rubbing off on me. The cunning of Slytherin has certainly rubbed off on you— in a good way. I love you too, and I'll update you soon.
He walked toward the four of them, his hand on his wand, though he kept it at his side. They did the same, and they eyed him warily as he approached.
"Alright," he said. "Cease-fire is in place, and considering I'm the one who has something to prove, I'm guessing that means it's my turn to share information first."
"That sounds about fair," Potter said. "But…" He glanced toward the others. "I know this place is very isolated, but we can never be too careful. Let's set up our usual enchantments, yeah?"
"We're gonna let him in the tent?" Weasley said, wrinkling his nose.
"I don't need to be going in any tents," Draco said quickly, not wanting to be within arm's reach of these people if he could help it. Just the thought of him crammed in a tiny tent with Weasley and Potter was—
"It's not what you're thinking," Potter said. "But we at least need the protective enchantments."
Granger wasted no time in casting spell after spell after spell, encasing them all in layers of protective magic. She handed a small beaded bag to Kathleen, who reached inside and pulled out a tent that absolutely should not have fit inside it, and began to assemble it along with Potter and Weasley.
It certainly looked like exactly what he was thinking. He wrinkled his nose as Potter emerged from the tent.
"I bet it stinks to high heaven in there."
Potter actually smirked at him. "Guess you'll have to test it out. Come look."
Draco very hesitantly stepped forward, not able to believe he was really doing this, and followed Potter inside the tent.
"Wow."
"See? Told you."
"Alright, so bigger than I thought. Clever bit of magic, I'll give you that one."
Potter walked toward a small dining table and awkwardly gestured for Draco to sit down.
He was going to sit down with Potter and Weasley and Granger to talk about taking down the Dark Lord… how was this possible?
His mind inexplicably bounced back to his mother at that moment, at the way she had so carefully told him without telling him that she would be on his side even if he went against the Dark Lord. He was much less sure about his father, but if Mother and Ginny were both in his corner… he could do this, right?
The others came to sit down as well, and soon they were all assembled, staring at him. He gulped.
"Well… I guess let me start off with the really important information first, in case I get summoned away from here unexpectedly. You-Know-Who has split his soul— I don't know how, but—"
"We know," Potter interrupted. "He split his soul and hid the pieces inside magical objects. They're called Horcruxes."
You were right, Ginny. They do know about the soul split.
"Ginny will be pleased to know she was right, then. She thought you probably knew."
"How did you figure it out?"
Draco laughed humorlessly. "That is going to take a very, very long time to explain. Like I said, let's do the most important information first. There's seven pieces missing, but two have already been destroyed—"
"Seven?" Granger said sharply. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. One hundred percent."
Potter, Granger, and Weasley looked at each other in alarm.
"I take it that's news to you?"
"We were tracking six, with now three of them destroyed."
Draco's brow furrowed. "We knew there were seven, but we only know about six items— the diary, the ring, the cup, the diadem, the locket, and Nagini. But there's one missing and we don't know what it is."
"A diadem?" Weasley repeated. "What's that?"
"It's a kind of tiara," Granger said before Draco could speak. "How do you knowthat there's seven?"
Fighting off irritation, Draco said, "Short answer is that Ginny and I gained a special ability called the second sight. She was shown a vision of You-Know-Who and there were seven holes in his… aura, I guess you could call it. Two were dormant, but the other five pulsed like a heartbeat. And as for the objects… again, short answer is that You-Know-Who showed them to Ginny in a dream, numerous times actually. But only the six. Number seven is missing."
No one said anything for a long moment.
"Like I said, it's been a busy few months. I can explain the whole thing, but I just have to make sure you get this information first. The diary we know for sure is destroyed, and we think the ring is probably the other one—"
"The ring and the locket," Potter said. "They're both destroyed."
"The locket must have been recent then."
"Only a few days ago, yeah."
Draco blinked. "You destroyed it?"
"Yep."
"You said you can see auras?" Granger said suspiciously. "I've never heard of such a thing, at least not anything that's real."
"It's not normal magic. It got granted to us the same way Ginny got granted immortality— I know it sounds mad, but it was a gift from a god. Like, look, yours is like a lilac purple, and Weasley yours is a dark green, and Kathleen yours is pale blue, and Potter, yours is—"
He cut himself off, his eyes growing wide. Potter's aura was a light, shimmering silver, but hidden deep within it, so deep he almost missed it at first glance, was a pulsing black mass.
FUCK.
What's wrong?Ginny asked urgently.
You're not going to believe this.
What do you mean? What's going on?
Potter has a piece of Voldemort's soul inside him.
WHAT?
"Mine is what, Malfoy?" Potter asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Silver," Draco said, his mouth going dry. "A light silver."
Fuck. What do we do? Do I tell him? What the hell do we even do about that?
I have no idea.
"Are you alright?"
Draco shook his head to clear it. "Yes. Fine. Just managing two conversations at once."
"Tell Ginny we miss her," Weasley said, his voice going softer than Draco had ever heard it.
Your brother misses you.
Draco, what are we going to do?
I have no idea. I'm not going to say anything just yet. I'll learn what they know, and tell them more about what we know, and then go from there.
We have to tell them eventually—
I know, Draco snapped. Just give me time.
Sorry,she said in a quiet voice which immediately made Draco's insides twist with shame. He shouldn't have snapped at her, but didn't she understand what kind of pressure he was under?
"She misses you too," he said. She hadn't said it, but he knew it was true.
"Let's get back on track," Potter said. "So we need to look for the cup and the diadem. We know where Nagini is. And then some mystery item, apparently."
Not as much of a mystery as you would think.
"Sounds about right," Draco said. "Ginny's trying to get information, but it's slow-going. I'll tell her the locket is gone so she doesn't need to focus on that one. She saw how he acquired the cup, but nothing on the diadem yet."
"How is Ginny trying to get information?" Kathleen asked.
"Short answer— by persuading You-Know-Who to tell her."
The group raised their eyebrows.
"I think we're about ready for some long answers," Weasley said. "You're speaking in riddles."
Draco took a deep breath and pulled on his face with his hands. "Okay. We're going to be here for a while."
"We've got nothing but time."
"Merlin. Alright. I don't know what all you know, so I'm just going to explain from the beginning, and you stop me if you have questions."
The group nodded.
"After you lot broke into the Department of Mysteries, my father and aunt were the only two Death Eaters to escape," he said, his palms already growing sweaty. "My father told the Dark Lord that Trelawney was the Seer who had recounted the prophecy, and that it might be worth capturing her to get more information. They were both severely punished for allowing you to escape. I came home when school ended and was ordered to take the Dark Mark and serve in my father's stead. That's how I got this, incidentally."
He waved his left hand at them, indicating the ring. "Very lucky break, all this time later. Anyways, Trelawney ended up getting captured over the summer, and the Dark Lord had Snape brew a special kind of potion in order to force her to prophesize."
Granger gasped, covering her mouth, and Potter's jaw was tight.
"The effects weren't pretty, but they were able to get three prophecies out of her before she died. The first was that only the Master of Death may triumph over the Boy Who Lived, and that in order to become the Master of Death, you need to acquire the Deathly Hallows. The second stated that they could be retrieved in a place where Death has been weakened, and the third spoke about…" He cleared his throat. "A young witch, pure of blood and pure of heart, who would be the only one able to retrieve them. Are you following so far?"
The group nodded.
"Okay. So. The Dark Lord tasked me with figuring out what these prophecies were about. After a lot of research, I figured out what the Deathly Hallows were—"
"From Beedle the Bard," Granger interrupted. "The wand, the stone, and the cloak."
"From among other sources, yes. The second part took me a little longer, but I eventually figured out that Godric's Hollow qualified as such a place— the place where the Killing Curse failed, and where the Peverell brothers made their bargain with Death centuries ago."
"This is actually insane," Granger murmured.
"Believe me, we haven't even gotten close to the actually insane part yet. For the third prophecy… Trelawney didn't give that bit of information until close to Christmas. The Dark Lord decided it must refer to Ginny, and it became my job to trick her into helping."
"Something I'm sure you were thrilled to do," Weasley said with venom.
"Less so than you might believe, but when the options are do this or watch your mother be murdered, I think I can see the appeal," he said, venom coming into his own voice.
Are you getting mad at them? Don't get mad at them, that'll just make things worse, Ginny said. This can't be like being at Hogwarts.
"Why didn't you go to Dumbledore?" Potter asked.
Draco chuckled drily. "Ginny asked me that exact same thing. I guess I should have, but I didn't. I didn't think he would, or could, help me. And the Dark Lord promised…"
"Promised what?"
"That Ginny would be safe afterwards," he said, choosing his words carefully.
"And you believed him?" Weasley said scathingly.
"I wanted it to be true. Yes, I believed him, and I was wrong."
The air was tense between them.
"Alright, keep going," Potter said. "It was your job to trick Ginny into helping. Then what?"
"I'm guessing you've pieced a lot of this part together, and for Kathleen's sake I'm going to skip the details, but I managed to trick her into flying to Godric's Hollow in order to get the wand before You-Know-Who could. Except, when she got there, she got more than any of us bargained for."
"The light," Granger said. "The light in Godric's Hollow, and then…" She trailed off, shooting a quick glance at Potter that Draco couldn't quite read.
"Yes. I know you heard me explain this some already, in Goyle's memory, but Death is an actual, literal figure. It— she, I guess— appeared to Ginny, and the Peverell brothers gave her the Hallows, but You-Know-Who was waiting there for her and stole them from her. She begged the brothers for help, and then… Death gave her a gift. A gem. A golden gem filled with light."
"And that's what makes her immortal?" Potter said.
"Yes. She can still be injured, as long as the injury isn't life-threatening, but if it puts her life in danger, the gem activates to protect her. And, incidentally, it treats panic attacks as life-threatening; that's the only other time I've seen it activate."
He cleared his throat again, and Granger stood up.
"Let me get us some tea. And I should take notes."
She hurried off into the kitchen, leaving Draco to tap his fingers awkwardly on the table while the others stared at him. He avoided looking at Potter, and the black spot that now stood out to him like a glaring beacon deep within Potter's chest. Did Voldemort know? He was trying to kill Potter… was this a piece of why?
Soon enough, Granger returned, levitating five cups of steaming tea towards them and carrying two pieces of parchment, one of which was absolutely covered in her tiny scrawl.
"We've been taking notes along the way," she said by way of explanation. "To keep track of everything."
He bit back a laugh, remembering how desperately Ginny had wished she could take notes.
"That makes sense," he said instead. "Are we ready to continue?"
"Yes please," Granger said.
This was too weird.
"Thank you for the tea," he said awkwardly before taking a sip. "So, like I said— she received the gift, but it's inside her body, or at least we all thought it was inside her body. The Dark Lord captured her in Godric's Hollow, and then he…"
How on earth could he explain what happened next?
"Three weeks of near unending torment, right?" Weasley said coldly.
Granger immediately kicked him under the table, and Draco's eyes widened.
"That wasn't in Goyle's memory. How do you know about that?"
"Let's just say Goyle wasn't our only source of information these past few months," Potter said quickly. "It's still your turn to explain though. Keep going."
Goyle wasn't their only source of information… Did that mean there was another traitor in the Dark Lord's midst? Draco's mind whirled as he sorted through possibilities.
"Malfoy, keep going."
"She was with Augustus Rookwood for three weeks. He used to be an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries, in the Death room. He was trying to find a way to remove the gem to give it to the Dark Lord. Except what he ended up finding was that it wasn't able to be removed. It's not like regular magic— it's from another world, it doesn't operate under our laws. It's inherently linked to her."
The table collectively sucked in a breath, and Draco took the opportunity to take another sip of his tea.
"So, obviously the Dark Lord wasn't thrilled with that information, since he wanted the gem for himself. But he couldn't just let her go—too many Death Eaters had seen or heard about it second-hand, and the last thing he wanted to give the Order was a literal human phoenix, so my aunt had the idea to use her for propaganda."
"By marrying her off to you," Weasley said.
Draco swallowed. "That did become the Dark Lord's plan, yes. Macnair had done some experimentation with the Imperius Curse, which you saw the consequences of in Goyle's memory. She's tied to me through my Mark."
"Is that how you're able to communicate with her?" Kathleen asked.
"No, it's actually a separate link."
Kathleen frowned, and Draco sighed.
"I know it's complicated. But no, the curse in the tattoo only responds to spoken commands— that's its only link."
"So that memory we saw of Goyle's," Potter said. "That was a couple days after she left Rookwood?"
"Yes. That's why she looked the way she did. It… wasn't good. I don't know all the details, and she's asked that I let her tell you about it herself, once all of this is over, but I think I can say with certainty that without the gem, she would have died many times over in those three weeks."
"And so you acted like an arse to her to, what, keep your cover?" Potter asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, actually. I promise you, it would have been much worse if she had been given to someone else. I couldn't let the Dark Lord think I was too sympathetic to her."
"And you were sympathetic to her because…?" Kathleen asked.
He cleared his throat. "I didn't want her to get hurt, and it was my fault that she did. I needed to try to protect her from any more damage, even if that meant I had to cause some damage myself, like you all saw me doing. I'm not proud of it, but it's what I had to do at the time."
More tension.
"I suppose we can decide if we forgive you later," Granger said with a dramatic breath. "Keep going."
He blew out a breath. "Unbeknownst to me or anyone else other than Ginny at the time, there's more to the gem than just granting immortality. She and I are still the only ones that know, and now I suppose you four will as well. Ginny isn't the first person who's had the gem; it originally belonged to Morgana, and the potential to call on its power was passed down her family line until it ultimately reached a woman named Alys in the fourteenth century. The gem has the ability to be used as a weapon— when it's granted to you, you're making a request for why you need it, and you can use its power to do whatever it is you said you were going to do. As far as Ginny and I know, Morgana and Alys are the only ones who've used it that way. But I'm getting ahead of myself."
"Okay, hold on," Granger said, scribbling furiously. "Let me catch up."
"Tell me when you're ready."
"Are we at the insane part yet?" Weasley asked.
"Getting closer," Draco said with a smirk.
"Alright," Granger said with a deep breath. "Keep going."
"Ginny kept this a secret for a very long time, but the gem allows her to communicate with Alys. She isn't a ghost, exactly— but she exists on another plane of existence, like how Death and the Peverell brothers do. Ginny was able to dream of Alys and talk with her."
Potter started rubbing his head.
"Alys told her that the gem can be used as a weapon, but she was reluctant to teach Ginny how. Ginny finally persuaded her to help some, and she told Ginny she needed to gain the second sight by performing a specific ritual in a thin place."
What exactly that ritual was, he was going to leave out.
"So Ginny tried to research what those words meant, and she tried to keep it hidden from me. She succeeded for a little while, but I ended up finding out eventually, and I made the decision not to tell the Dark Lord about it."
He left out his father's involvement, along with exactly how they had hidden these memories away.
"That must have been dangerous for you," Granger said.
Draco nodded. "It was. But that was the beginning of Ginny being able to trust me. Things were quiet for a bit after that… until you left your aunt and uncle's, Potter."
"And You-Know-Who tried to kill me and couldn't," he finished.
"Exactly. He was very, very upset that the Elder Wand hadn't worked as promised. So he needed to investigate the Hallows, and do you know what his investigation found? He figured out that Ginny was the master of the Hallows."
Weasley's jaw dropped, and Draco bit back a laugh.
"That's about how Ginny felt about it too. The tattoo blocks her magic, but she was master of the Elder Wand."
"Was?" Potter said sharply.
"Was," Draco agreed. "Apparently, the wand is fickle with its allegiances. If you disarm its master, you become the owner of the wand."
"We saw that in the history books," Granger murmured. "The wand being passed down from person to person."
"When you were researching the Deathstick?" Draco asked, trying to piece together how they knew anything about the Hallows.
"Yes," she said quickly— maybe too quickly.
Hmm. Draco would have questions of his own for them, it sounded like.
"So anyways, he gave her the wand, and she couldn't use it, but it still transferred to him when he disarmed her. It used to belong to Ginny, but it belongs to him now."
"Great," Weasley deadpanned.
"It gets worse. He's paranoid about things going wrong now, and he's basically decided that Ginny is a fourth Hallow."
"What?" everyone said at once.
"Because the gem is a gift from Death, and Ginny is linked to the gem… look, for what it's worth, she and I both don't think that's the case, but that's what he thinks. So at that point, she was no longer allowed to live at Malfoy Manor and got sent back to his headquarters, but in better accommodations this time. He doesn't know about the gem being a weapon, but he knows it links to other worlds, and… I don't think I can explain to you what it feels like, even just looking through a portal. It's magic on another scale, nothing like what's possible here. But he wants it, badly. He's focused on trying to kill you first—" he nodded in Potter's direction, "— but his goal after that is to use Ginny's power to open a gateway to another world and take more power for himself."
"Hold on," Granger said again before stretching her wrist. "So… I don't even know where to begin with that. You've seen a portal into another world?"
"Yes. Once."
"In Godric's Hollow?"
"No. The next day after he brought her back to his headquarters, he made her drink the same potion he gave Trelawney and it… didn't go as he expected. Ginny opened a portal, and this creature came through…"
He trailed off, unconsciously bringing his hand to his left arm, remembering the agony of the beast's jaw as it yanked against him.
"A creature came through, and injured You-Know-Who before disappearing, and it was just madness after that. Ginny and I were separated, and I wasn't sure I was going to get to see her again, and she hadn't been able to gain the second sight so Alys wouldn't help her use the gem… it was a disaster. She wasn't going to be allowed to leave headquarters, and even if I did see her again, we would be monitored, so I had to find a way to communicate with her that wouldn't be able to be observed."
"So that's this second link then," Kathleen said.
"Yes. You-Know-Who doesn't know about it, and anything Ginny and I discuss that way is safe from Legilimency. It's allowed us to plot against You-Know-Who without being detected, even if I have to physically be away from her."
"More otherworldly magic, or something else?" Granger asked, skimming over her notes.
"Um. Something else. I found it in a spell book in the manor."
Not a lie.
Granger blew out a breath and pushed her hair out of her face. "Okay. So Ginny gets sent back to 'headquarters,' and then what?"
"I manage to make this connection with her, explain myself, and we agree to work together to gain the second sight like Alys told her to, so she can access the gem's power. It's taken some research and some trial and error, but we were able to do it— she got it, and so did I, incidentally."
"So she can use the weapon now?" Weasley asked. "This other woman showed her how?"
"Well, not exactly. Ginny's wish when she got the gem was to protect the world from You-Know-Who. But in order to kill him…"
"We have to destroy the Horcruxes first," Potter finished.
Horcruxes. That's what they were called. Horcruxes.
"Exactly."
"I think I'm still confused though," Potter continued. "This special sight or whatever is how you both saw that You-Know-Who has soul pieces missing. But you said that he showedGinny the Horcruxes. That goes against everything I know about him, everything Dumbledore ever knew about him. Why would he do that?"
"So I want to preface this part by saying that Ginny is fine— she's safe, or as safe as she can be under the circumstances— but this is probably going to be upsetting."
"Oh, like the rest of it hasn't been upsetting?" Weasley said with a roll of his eyes. Draco made eye contact with him.
"Upsetting in a different way. When Ginny first got sent back to headquarters, she kept having these dreams. Nightmares. About You-Know-Who. I told her they were just dreams, but once we were able to talk through our connection, she asked me to look, and it seems like You-Know-Who put… I don't know how to explain it. Put a strand of thought, maybe, inside her head. Not a Horcrux— I checked— but it's like one of his thoughts in her mind. He can put dreams in there, interact with her in them."
Potter shot a significant look at Weasley and Granger, who looked equal parts nervous and disgusted.
"Okay," Potter said in a controlled voice, running his hands along his cup. "What are these nightmares about?"
"Both in real life and in the dreams, he calls her his saint. He says he's becoming a god, and Ginny is part of that. He wants to win her allegiance, just like he won the Elder Wand's allegiance. The dreams are designed to manipulate her. And the first one she ever had involved these six objects. He's never revealed that they have anything to do with his soul, but once we saw that there were pieces missing…"
"It was easy enough to put together," Potter finished, tapping a finger on the table.
"Yes. But once we did… Ginny decided to turn the tables. Use the dreams to her advantage. She's slowly but surely getting information about these things… the Horcruxes. We know that the cup and the locket were stolen from someone named Hepzibah Smith, and he hid one 'in plain sight' and one 'far from prying eyes.' No details yet, but—"
"The cup must be in plain sight," Weasley interrupted. "The locket was in a cave, far away from anything."
"That's good information," Draco said with a nod. "I'll tell Ginny."
"What about the diadem? Anything about that?" Hermione asked.
"I just know that it belonged to Ravenclaw."
"Hmm." Granger tapped her foot. "I think I've heard something about that, but I don't remember the details. Maybe Hogwarts, A Historywill know…"
"Well even if it does, it's not going to tell us where he hid it, which is what's really important," Kathleen said. "So it's the cup, hidden in plain sight, Nagini the snake, who's with him, the diadem, which we don't know where it is… and this other item that we don't know anything about?"
He swallowed. Now was his chance. He couldn't just not say something…
"Right," he said, and took a sip of tea. "I. Umm. I don't know how to say this."
"Spit it out," Weasley said, and Draco bristled.
"I've been spilling my guts to you for the better part of an hour," he snapped. "The least you could do is be patient." He took a deep breath before looking at Potter. "When I looked at your aura or whatever you want to call it, it was silver, like I said, but there's also a black spot right in the center, hidden in your chest… and it looks exactly like Ginny's description of You-Know-Who's aura."
It pulsed within Potter's chest, mocking Draco as he stared at it.
"What?" Granger said sharply, looking from Draco to Potter and back again. "What do you mean exactly like You-Know-Who's aura?"
"Exactly what I just said. Down to it pulsing like a heartbeat."
"So you're saying…" Weasley said slowly.
"That Volde—"
"DON'T SAY THE NAME!" Granger and Weasley screeched at Potter, who caught himself just in time. He looked shaken.
"That You-Know-Who," he said deliberately, "hid a piece of his soul inside my body."
"I don't know how or why, but that's what it looks like to me."
"You said there was something inside Ginny's head too, but it wasn't a Horcrux," Weasley said stubbornly.
"It didn't look like this."
"How do we know you aren't lying?" he demanded. "Because… because what do you want us to do, kill Harry? That'd be awfully convenient for You-Know-Who… what if this is all some big ruse?"
Fuck.
"I promise it's not," Draco said, holding up his hands in surrender. "I don't know what you all want to do about it, but I couldn't just not say something. Maybe we can destroy it without—"
"There's no we," Weasley snapped. "There's us, and then there's you."
Draco took a deep breath. "Fine. Then maybe you can destroy it without killing him. Your secret's safe with me, but you needed to know."
They all looked at Potter, who looked at Draco.
"What proof can you give me?"
Draco bit his lip. "I'm not sure. You don't have the second sight."
"Do we need the second sight to see your memory of it?" Granger asked.
"Hmm. I'm actually not sure."
"Let's try that then. Let me extract the memory of you looking at Harry's aura, and we'll view it in my Pensieve."
"You should also show us what You-Know-Who's aura looks like," Kathleen said. "So that we can see they're the same."
"I didn't see it. Ginny and Alys did, and Ginny described it to me."
"So you don't know for surethat this spot or whatever it is, is You-Know-Who's soul," Granger said.
Draco bit back his exasperation. "I guess if you want to be technical, Granger, no, I don't know for sure.But I know that what I'm seeing sounds exactly like Ginny's description, and I don't know what else it could be."
"You said this is magic from another world," Potter said slowly. "Maybe there's more to it than you or Ginny understand."
"Maybe," Draco said, though he knew his doubt was obvious in his voice. "Well, do you want this memory or not?"
Potter bit his lip. "I believe you that you see something, but us watching the memory isn't going to tell us anything about it. We'll… worry about that later, I guess. We still have these other things to find."
"Right," Draco said with a nod. "In that case, I think that's it for me, unless you have questions."
"Have you seen my family?" Weasley asked.
"Not directly, but they're safe. The Dark Lord has them in a special kind of prison— he made it look like your house. Up until recently he was letting Ginny visit on Sundays for dinner."
"They're all okay? Really, they're all okay?"
"Unless something's changed in the last couple of days, yes."
Weasley visibly relaxed. "Great. Where is this prison?"
"No idea. Ginny says it's in the middle of an open field somewhere. The Dark Lord Apparated her there and back himself, and they're under some kind of force field."
Weasley tensed again. "So we can't go rescue them."
"I can try to get information about where they are, but I'm not optimistic about it. Ginny has to focus her efforts on the soul fragments, and if she's too pushy, she could get caught. They're safe though— they just might have to stay where they are for now."
"How often are you around You-Know-Who?" Potter asked.
"As of late, not that often. It used to be much more frequent, but he… sent me away."
"Why?"
"He only wants Ginny to be paying attention to him."
Potter made a disgusted face.
"Well, you should try to stay out of sight. If he even hears the wordHorcrux in your mind, he'll kill you for certain."
"Gee, thanks, Potter. I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
"I understand that you're a good Occlumens," Potter said, ignoring Draco's tone, "but no one's better than him, not indefinitely anyway. Stay away from him as much as you can."
Draco's head was starting to hurt. "Yeah. Okay."
"Do you… do you want this back?"
Potter pulled out a folded piece of parchment, and Draco sucked in a breath when he realized it was Ginny's painting.
"I…"
"Ginny made this for you, didn't she?"
Potter's tone was flat, but Draco could sense the tension underneath it.
"She… she did. I… no. You can keep it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
His stomach twisted, but what did he need the painting for anyway? He could talk to Ginny any time through the bridge. Potter didn't have that same opportunity.
Potter frowned but put the painting back in his pocket. "Okay. Well, I actually don't think we have much more information to tell you beyond what you already know. We found the locket, and destroyed it. Horcruxes are very difficult to destroy— the only thing we've found so far that works is basilisk venom."
"Come again?"
"Basilisk venom. It destroyed the diary in the Chamber of Secrets, and we used it again to destroy the locket. We think Dumbledore used it to destroy the ring. I'm not sure what else would destroy them, but just regular magic won't do."
"Fiendfyre works, but I don't recommend it," Granger piped up. "Too dangerous."
"So if I find one of these things, I can't actually destroy it, is what you're saying."
"We need some way to communicate, I think," Granger said, tapping her quill against the table. "After today. Because you seem to stand the best chance of getting concrete information on where the other Horcruxes are, and we have a sure-fire means of destroying them."
"Why don't you just stay here?" Draco asked, the words out of his mouth before he could think better of them. "This place is far from the manor, and my parents don't know it exists, I'm certain of it. I can check in with you periodically, let you know if I've learned anything new."
The group looked at each other, clearly hesitant.
"Unless you have some lead on where the next one is," Draco continued. "And have someplace else to go."
Potter looked at the group once again, then back at Draco. "No, we don't. And I suppose you've given us enough information now that it's very unlikely you would rat us out."
Draco barked a laugh. "Yes, believe me, this is far more trouble for me than just turning you over. You don't have to worry about me— I made my decision weeks ago now."
"Is every three days too frequent for a check-in?" Granger asked. "And if you miss the check-in, we can assume something's wrong?"
Draco frowned. "Well, I have work during the day, and do occasionally get summoned by the Dark Lord, so there might be times where I can't make it on the dot."
"Work?" Kathleen asked.
"As your friends discovered, I work at the Ministry now."
Granger was rummaging around in her beaded bag. "Here," she said, tossing him a Galleon. "You've seen these before."
"Yes, Granger, I'm very familiar with what a Galleon is—"
"It's not just a Galleon."
He looked down at it, and saw that it was in fact one of the charmed Galleons Granger had used for Dumbledore's Army.
"I can show you how to use it, but let's agree that if you aren't going to be able to make your check in time, you notify us with this, alright? That way we know you just got… held up with something, and aren't…"
"Aren't dead?" Draco said drily. "Got it. Will do."
Potter looked around at the others. "Is that it, then?"
"Are you still going to help me?" Kathleen asked, her face guarded.
He had hurt her so badly. He had to make it right.
"Of course. Do you want to go sit on the sofa where it's more comfortable?"
"No," she said sharply, and he winced as he knew she was remembering the Room of Requirement. "Here is fine."
"Alright," he said, taking a deep breath. "This will take some time, and I'll go gently, but I can't promise there won't be pain."
"I'm prepared for pain."
"Okay. Then look at me. Legilimens." He took another deep breath, calling up the calmness of the sea, and set to work fixing what he had broken.