I own nothing from this story.
A/N: Welcome back! First of all, I'd like to say sorry to you all. I finally know what a writer's block feels like, and a huge one, for that matter. Frustration about sums it up. I even stopped reading fanfiction completly. That bad.
Then, a bit of inspiration hit me, combined with my rediscover of "Duality" by andafaith (huge recommendation, by the way), and here we are.
Again, this is not abandoned. I've never stopped thinking of ways to continue this. But, I can't promise this won't happen again. So, you'll have to be patient and bear with me.
Without further ado
Enjoy!
Chapter 6. The mind
"Trace… Wake up… You're using me again as a hugging pillow."
Those were the words that woke me up. The first thing that crossed my mind was that I liked it. I could get used to that voice waking me up again. It was a very nice second. Then, the headache followed, and it hit hard. Fucking Firewhiskey.
"I won't drink ever again…" - I murmured. How many times had I said those fucking words? More than I could count, that's for sure. How many times had I followed those fucking words? Yeah: zero, cero, zéro, null. That's life, I guess. You get drunk, you wake up in some random bed you don't even remember how and you just want to die then and there, rip your head off or something like that. Marvelous.
I got out of my musings when the body I was hugging stiffened, clearly becoming aware before I did that something was off in this room. For me, it was when the body that was hugging me answered.
"Jussss fiv' 'ore min'ts, Daph…" - were those soft lumps in my back what I thought they were? Shit. It all came to my memory at once, giving me a new level of headache as a gift. Dinner at the girls' flat. Story time. Firewhiskey. Club. Tracey drunk as fuck. Daphne letting me alone at the care of Tracey. Following Tracey to this room, assuming it was hers. Falling asleep here somehow. How did Daphne end up here too?
As my brain was regaining some of its functional state, I became aware of the fact that I was shirtless in bed with two beautiful witches in it, hugging Daphne fucking Greengrass, who was wearing something very thin… Naaaahhh! That train of thought was dangerous, VERY dangerous. In fact, there was something else waking up, pressed at her bottom as I became aware it was, and that was bad. Think of something else, I don't know, football. I followed it during my stay in Germany. Go, Borussia Dortmund! How were they doing? I had to refollow it…
"What… the hell…?" - Daphne had straightened up, and was surely looking at me in a way I didn't want to know, because the hairs at the back of my neck rose, so I better kept my eyes closed. Did I brush her…? Yeeep, Rosicky was my favourite player, how…
But before she could end whatever the hell she was going to say, the door opened, and with that, my eyes too. Astoria Greengrass entered the room.
"Daphne! I was trying to contact you, but…" - and she became aware of the situation. I dared to look at Daphne. Her face was a poem. I wanted to laugh, really, but I also wanted to maintain my full body intact, as intact as it was, so I kept my mouth shut.
"Am I… interrupting something?" - Astoria asked. The shock on her face was becoming more of a smirk with every passing second. She'd seen the face her sister had, too. That made my brain ask the most stupid question ever, slightly drunk as it still was: 'What would Sirius do?' Follow the game, repercussions be damned, of course.
"You obviously are." - I answered, smiling. At that moment, Tracey decided it was time to wake up. She straightened herself, looked at me, then Daphne and the bed, and said the most appropriate thing her obviously still drunk brain could think of: "We had a threesome? Neat."
That made it for Astoria, who started laughing. I would have too, if it weren't because Daphne had smacked me on the head at those words.
"What the hell are you doing in my bed?" - Daphne finally asked.
"First of all, I didn't even know this was your bed. I followed Tracey and she brought me here." - that had to be the most intelligent thing I had ever said. In my defense, it didn't sound that bad in my head.
"You were going to sleep with Tracey?" - her face was emotionless saying that.
"What? No! I was going to help her to bed, like you asked me, before going to the bathroom." - her annoyed expression returned with that.
"That didn't mean to get in bed with her, did it?"
"I know, I don't even remember how I ended up here. How did you end here without noticing?"
"I… was drunk. I guess I didn't notice… That's not the case!"
"Ehem. Can I say something?" - It was Astoria. I thanked her in my head. Only God knows how long this discussion was going to get. - "It's obvious you had a fun night, and it's obvious nothing inappropriate happened here, as you are all… partially dressed." - she looked at me saying that. I mouthed my thanks nonetheless. - "Besides, it smells of alcohol here, not sex, so can we move on to the important matters? But first of all, you go get a shower."
And that was my first night out with the girls and the following morning. Nice, wasn't it? Could something be normal in my life for once? That night was something Tracey would never let be forgotten in the future. She laughed it all like it was nothing. Even Daphne smiled at The Pub that very same morning when Tracey told the story to the others. But I'm getting ahead.
I left the flat promising to get a shower and to be at The Pub in an hour. That hour included a very long coffee too, as I wanted to understand anything said to me. It seemed we had a full group meeting today, taking advantage of the fact that it was Sunday, so it had to be important. New Year's Eve was in a month and a half, after all.
When I arrived, almost everyone was there already, except for the trio I'd left a while ago. I guess women needed more time to prepare after a night out, but I didn't comment on it. Astoria had to have said something to the group, though. There were some funny faces in the crowd. Because of that or my surely hangovered face, I didn't know. I just said hi and waited sitting by the bar.
They didn't take long, and sat at both sides of me. They both looked way better than this morning, but you could tell they hadn't slept well. Tracey greeted me with a wave of her hand and a smile, but Daphne just bypassed me like I didn't even exist, although I think I caught a tiny side looped smile by her profile.
"Tough night, you three?" - surprisingly, the one asking that with a knowing smirk on his face was Malfoy. The mischievous glint in Astoria's eye told me everything I needed to know. Malfoy, at least, knew something. Great. I didn't find any malice on his face, though. That had to be a first.
"As entertaining as I'm sure that story will be, it'll have to wait." - it was Zabini speaking. He got up from his seat and stood in front of all of us. - "As you may be aware, the day we've been waiting for is in a little bit more than a month. That day, our new member here will prove if his story is true or if it's full of bullshit. I really hope it's the first case scenario." - I just nodded slightly, but confidently. He nodded back, and continued.
"So, first things first: security at the event. Both Draco and I can confirm that the only restricting ward will be The Mark." - Zabini then looked at me, as if questioning, and I nodded again, with a little less confidence. At least, it made sense to me. There would be a lot of people, and everyone marked was supposed to have The Minister's approval. Everyone was marked by Him personally, after all. - "Nevertheless, I want Tracey and Potter to confirm it the day before. The Manor will be ready by then." - it was Tracey's time to nod.
"I don't think I need to say there will be plenty of security wizards inside the building, plus, the whole former Death Eater group will be there. Once inside, you're fucked if you mess up, power of The Minister or not." - that was obvious. This had to be as silently made as possible. - "Well, back on The Mark. If you have entered the country without being noticed, I guess your Mark is as valid as His, but I have to make sure because of the second point of the meeting. Is it?" - he asked me.
"It is." - was all I said, but I doubted he would settle for that. I was right.
"Could you explain why?"
"Casualty." - he insisted with his look. - "He took my blood." - now he was just confused. That was funny. I stopped taking the mickey and explained it. - "When he resurrected, back in our fourth year, he used my blood. That way, He overcame the magic that protected me from Him. But that also made me able to replicate His mark, amongst other things, as it is linked to his blood, my blood." - Zabini stayed thinking for a while.
"But… He didn't have your blood when He first made the Mark. That doesn't make sense. It shouldn't work. Unless…"
"Unless he predicted he'd need someone else's blood someday because of his Horcruxes. Yep. He is also marked, although you can't see it. Think of it as a very fucked up protean charm. The Mark works based on the blood that's coursing through his veins."
"I think I follow you. But don't you think…?"
"If He's aware of it? As far as I know, He isn't. But, even if He were, he can't do anything about it, not now. And remember, He's the most arrogant bastard that has ever lived. With what He knew of me before I was imprisoned, I doubt He'd think I was going to Mark myself. Dumbledore's pet through and through as I was."
"Even then, it is now imperative that you check if there are additional wards around the Manor that night."
"Sure."
"The important thing now is that it works. That leads us to the second point. Your company." - he looked at Daphne saying that. - "She'll have to get Marked. I want her in the Manor with you." - her face said that she didn't like it one bit, but she said nothing. - "You can wait to do it until you confirm it is safe for you to enter there, but it's the only way we'll do this." - At her nod, he continued.
"You can't enter there as yourselves, obviously. Roger and Wayne will be preparing some Polyjuice potion for you this coming month. It'll be ready by the late twenties of December, so we should be fine. You'll enter as Draco and Astoria. Obviously…" - I interrupted him.
"I don't know if that's going to work. No offense to Astoria and Draco, but we've got way more power than them. He'll notice something's wrong if we stay close enough. You change your physical aspect, but the magical aura remains the same."
"You won't be expected to be around Him much…" - started Zabini, but he got interrupted again, this time by Malfoy.
"We'll teach you. A master Occlumens can hide part of his magical aura. not entirely, mind you, but you'll be able to hide enough. It was the first thing I taught Astoria when we started our relationship, just to stay on the cautious side."
"I… didn't know that. Thank you." - to say that I was speechless was an understanding. Amazing. If I could learn this ability… it could prove to be very useful.
"Well, as I was saying, you'll have to play the part. It seems this month you'll be with the lovely couple here a lot of time. Learn their mannerisms, how they interact with each other and other people… Learn as much as possible."
"If you're OK with it… There's a way with Legilimency. We could learn everything you're comfortable with sharing, and everything you consider we'll need to know in a day. You being accomplished Occlumens should speed things up." - I said. On His way to power, He discovered this little trick.
"We'll see." - was all Malfoy said. Zabini took the lead again, seeing that Malfoy wasn't going to add anything else.
"Next. Penelope here says that The Order has all their plans in motion already. They'll kidnap three or four low rank Ministry workers. It seems Granger has discovered a way to temporarily Mark people."
"That's impossible." - I said, automatically.
"We'll see, won't we? Now, I know what the Minister seems to think about Granger's plan. If she pulls this off, she'll scale considerably in my priority list of people who I should worry about. The names they have in mind are: Jake Bryne, Thomas Smith, Liam Roberts and Emily Taylor. Do they say anything to you?" - he directed the question to no one in particular.
"Bryne. He's a distant cousin of the Parkinsons. We've talked here and there." - Astoria answered.
"Assuming Potter's right and Granger will be there, she won't be far from that group. Find Bryne. From there, you're all alone, and you're under a timer. You have to be out of there before The Order makes their move. I don't care how you do it, but bring that cloak home. I'm risking the life of three friends of mine just for you, Potter. I think it's time for our second Bow." - he got dead serious all of a sudden. Zabini had a look that almost challenged me to be wrong or defy the Bow. Getting out of my momentary shock, I slowly took my right hand out of my pocket, not saying a word. He took it, and Tracey started our second Unbreakable Bow.
"Will you, Harry James Potter, let me personally Obliviate you if you don't have your old Invisibility Cloak by the First of January?"
"I will." - I felt the magic latch onto me. Was it today when I got up surrounded by two witches? Even my hangover was gone.
Daphne was dead serious by my side, looking at me with a face I hadn't seen before. She was putting her life in the hands of someone she had just met, as they say. I just remembered that, to the World, she was dead. The life and emotion her eyes were transmitting right now was almost scary. I made a third Unbreakable Bow in my head right then and there. She'd live, I'd make sure of it.
Three weeks passed from that meeting. After the Unbreakable Bow, things got way lighter. Again, surprising me, it was Malfoy who broke the tension in the room, asking about our night. I didn't know if it was for the better or the worse, but Daphne and I let Tracey tell the story. A bit embarrassing, but bearable, nonetheless.
In these three weeks, Daphne and I had been meeting with Astoria and Malfoy from time to time. They were explaining to us "the basics of Occlumency", as the little ponce called it, in order to be able to hide our magical aura. He definitely was more bearable than in Hogwarts, but he was still Malfoy.
Today was "special", if you could call it that. Thanks to Astoria, they were letting us use my Legilimency method for the first time. I had to say it, though: that woman was scary. It had to be a family trait or something. She was way more cheerful, less sarcastic and equally beautiful and scary than Daphne. Something I had in common with Malfoy, it seemed, is that we had to be mad. He even married her.
Well, Legilimency. I had been teaching Daphne what to do during this time. More accurately, I was explaining what to do, what to look for, and what to expect from her sister during that time.
In all honesty, I was a bit nervous myself. Yes, I knew what to do, but it was the first time I was entering a mind willing to let me in. "Willing", you get it. Every mind was different, there's nothing more infinite than human imagination. That was the most challenging thing a Legilimens had to face: you were always alone against the unknown, in a place where everything was possible.
And this was Malfoy we were talking about. Yes, he was letting me in, but he didn't want to. And he was cheating The Minister himself. Whatever he had inside that head of his had to be huge.
I was walking with Daphne on our way to The Pub, thinking about all this, and my nervousness had to be very obvious, because she asked:
"Still nervous?"
We had been all over this together, while I was explaining the method to her. I just nodded a bit.
"Don't be. I know my sister. She'll have him controlled, even if we are in a different room."
"I know that, but still. Has it never happened to you? You think you're super good on something, because you know everything there's to be known, but you've never done it yourself."
"I thought I was good in a fight, until I met you. That counts?"
"Is that a compliment? I really have to seem like a little kid before an exam, don't I?"
"You do. How can you be a master Legilimens without never having used Legilimency? That doesn't make any sense."
"I've used it. It's just…" - How could I say this without seeming crazy as fuck? I couldn't. - "...whenever I use Legilimency, I stop being myself a little bit."
"How?" - she didn't seem like she was about to run away. It gave me a bit of confidence, so I continued.
"Legilimency brings that tiny Tom Riddle part that stayed with me alive. It's not that I'll turn like him and start torturing people's minds or something. But it craves to know more, to search for more information, more secrets I could exploit, any dirtiness that person may have in his hands. You get what I'm saying?"
"I think I am." - she made a gesture to let me continue.
"That's why I don't want to use Legilimency any more than necessary. I know I'm different from Hogwarts. I know I still have a part of Him in me, and will always have. That doesn't mean I like it. I try to keep that part as asleep as possible. On the other hand, I'd have never met any of you if it wasn't for that part of me."
"We were something you could exploit? What a flatterer."
"At the time, you were. Well, in a way, you still are. I won't kill that bastard without you, that's for sure."
"That sounded sappy. You sure you'll get like Riddle in a while? I highly doubt it." - she had that lopsided grin I've started to think she knows I like. It meant she'd get what she wanted. Was it to make me relax, or to piss me off? She made both, to be honest, so it was justified.
We'll leave the 'Why would that banter make you relax?' question for another time, I didn't even understand it. But we had arrived at our destination, so I didn't have time to think about it further. The Pub was deserted, save for the two people we were invading their minds in a bit. We had told the group privacy was key, so they'd all stayed at home or wherever.
"You ready?" - Daphne asked, almost in a whisper, not looking at me, when we opened the door.
"Yep, let's go." - I answered.
We didn't talk much from there. Astoria and Daphne stayed in the upper plant, and I went to the basement with Draco. The tension was palpable. He didn't trust me, that was obvious.
We sat opposite from the other, and prepared ourselves, not saying a fucking word. A tiny bit of nerves came again. I had it. Just his personality, I didn't want anything else. Let's go.
And I opened my eyes. His grey ones were already opened, an almost challenging look on his face.
Everything went black for a moment. I'd never seen this blackness in my life. Let me explain. Imagine you're all alone in your room, ready to sleep. You're all in darkness, or you think you are. No lights, no tiny leds from TV or something, no light from the window. Nothing. But you can still "see" some things, like your own body parts. It's like an even more dark mass that you can distinguish moving in the dark. Have you ever felt it? I couldn't for a moment. I was in nothingness. Was this his full defense? It was impressive.
Then, light came. I had to close my eyes to get used to it little by little. I was in a corridor, I could say that much. A giant corridor. I couldn't even see the end, not forward, nor backwards. To my sides, there were doors. Yep, just that. Door after door after door after door.
"Welcome to my ancestral home, Potter." - Malfoy's voice said. He materialised by my side next.
"Malfoy manor?" - I asked.
"My corridor, yes. Although it's not Malfoy manor anymore. The Minister took it for his own purposes. You'll visit it soon, I guess."
"I didn't know it was there."
"It is."
Silence. An uncomfortable one. What did two guys who've never got on talk about when left alone?
"Well, Potter, let's end with this. What are you looking for?" - they didn't talk. That was it.
"We could see the last Dance you went to. I can get everything I need from there. Your way you interact with Astoria, The Minister, the guests… I'll need full access to that memory. The real one, not a copy. Could you give it to me? Just to that memory."
The Minister obviously didn't do this this way. He assaulted the victim, he fought for full access to the whole mind. But with Draco being a master Occlumens, I thought he could give it to me, just for the memory. If not…
"I really don't like this…" - was all he said. A new door materialised in front of me, pushing the others to the side.
"Are there hidden doors between the ones I see?" - I asked. I hadn't even sensed them.
"Obviously. That's the one you're looking for. Be quick."
I saw the memory. I understood a lot of things regarding Draco Malfoy just from those few hours of his life, but, on the other hand, I discovered I understood a lot less than I did. You see, when you access the real memory, the movie changes. It's not like seeing a copy on a pensieve, like the one I saw in my fourth year. You feel what the person's feeling. You are him. And Draco Malfoy was a very unique person. Why?
There, in that environment, surrounded by the most dangerous people in Britain, knowing full well he was betraying the whole lot of them, he was at ease, carefree, in total control of himself. The perfect gentleman to his wife, the perfect bureaucrat from the government, the perfect servant to "His Minister". Perfect.
Then, were the memories I got from him. The perfect arsewhole. Never in control of nothing. Take the first time I met the group. I'm not even talking from our Hogwarts time. This happened a few months ago, way later than the memory I just watched. He alone almost made the whole plan they had prepared go to waste. He was supposed to be hidden, invisible. He was not there. But he chuckled, when I told my dementors story. Only because I decided to play deaf at that moment nothing else happened. That didn't make any sense.
"Why?" - I asked.
"Why what?" - true. He wasn't in my head, was he?
"Why can you be like that, but then you lose it so bad whenever I'm involved?"
He kept silent for a while.
"I… don't know." - that really helped. Thank you, Malfoy.
"Can I at least do anything to change it? Take we have to do something together sometime. That behaviour could kill us both."
"I'll work on it. Just… let's get out of here."
And that was it. End of conversation. He ended our connection and went upstairs. Brilliant. I guess what they say is true, huh? "Every rule has an exception". Was I Malfoy's exception? I really hoped not, or I'd have to try something I really didn't want to do.
And here we are.
Finally, Harry gets to know a bit better another character. I don't know how important Draco and Astoria will be from here. As I've always said, I have no beta and no chapters ahead. I write for the fun of writitng, and whenever I have something finished, I upload it. I'm just making this up on the way, so, who knows? Tell me what you think so far, I really appreciate it.
Next, finally, The Manor. Untill that day!