Right. Here's the part where I say I'm sorry and beg for your forgiveness for missing an update. Real life caught up with me these past two weeks (sickness and work), and I was unable to come up with a chapter that satisfied me before last Friday. Sorry. Hopefully you'll at least be pleased with this one.
All right ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of the year again! No, not your local car dealer's President's Day sale, it's time for an ECN (that stand for Estimated Chapter Number, for those of you who don't know). When I get about two-thirds of the way through any of my fics, I like to try to let the reader know about how many chapters there will be in total. Well, after contemplation and discussion with the muse, I have come to the decision that there will be a total of 17 chapters, plus a small epilogue. Therefore, the tentative series finale date is set at April 9th. I hope that it will be well worth the wait.
On with the show!
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Chapter 12: The Interrogation of Draco Malfoy
Harry landed quite ungracefully with a thud on the floor of the basement kitchen in Number 12, Grimmauld Place, with Draco right next to him. In an instant he had his wand drawn and was looking around his surroundings, unable to erase the vision of the glowing, red eyes from his mind.
"What the hell's wrong with you, Potter?" Moody asked, walking over and picking Malfoy up off the ground.
"It's Voldemort," he said, still looking about the room. "He was there."
"No, he wasn't," Moody said, dumping Draco unceremoniously in a chair. "I would've seen him."
"Oh, come off it, Moody!" Harry exclaimed, putting his wand away at last. "He's the most powerful Dark Lord in over a century. I would think he could avoid being detected by even your eye if he so desired."
"Harry...calm down," Hermione said tentatively.
"How can you tell me to be calm?!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "Apparition can be traced! He could very well know where we are right now -"
"No, he couldn't," Hermione stressed, cutting him off. "He could trace us all he wants, but if you've forgotten, Grimmauld Place is under the Fidellius Charm. He couldn't possibly know where we went unless Dumbledore told him the secret, and I think even that is a bit of a stretch." Harry thought about this for a moment before sighing and slumping down into a chair.
"...I suppose you're right," he said. "But I did see him. His eyes, anyway."
"His eyes?" Moody asked.
"His eyes," Harry repeated. "I would know that damn gaze anywhere. Thin, almost snake-like, and glowing red."
"Well, if he was there, why did he let us get away with Draco?" Hermione asked. "Great and powerful wizard that he is, you'd think he could stop us."
"Maybe he didn't want to..." Harry thought aloud, looking over at an unconscious Draco.
"He's the spy," Hermione said. "Why on Earth would he want to lose a spy?"
"Well, if he knew that we knew," Moody said. "What would be the point of engaging us? It'd just cause an unnecessary commotion, and if one of us managed to get away it would be almost the same as us escaping with Draco. He'd be useless anyway. And if on the long shot, we actually managed to win a battle...well, let's just leave it at the fact that it was a break even or lose proposition for him."
"Maybe so," Harry said. "But there's only one way to find out." He quickly drew his wand at pointed it at Draco. "Incarcerous. Aquas."
Thick, yellow ropes sprouted from the end of his wand and tied Draco firmly to the chair before a stream of cold, blue water hit Malfoy in the face. Draco quickly regained consciousness and shook his head, only to realise that he was bound to the chair he was sitting in.
"What in the...?"
"Good to have you back, Draco," Harry drawled. Malfoy looked up at his captors and his brow furrowed.
"What do you want, Potter?" he asked coldly. "And why am I tied to this chair? Let me go."
"He's all tied up at our mercy after being found out and yet he still thinks he can order us around," Harry snorted to Moody and Hermione. "Hasn't learned from our Hogwarts days. Cheeky little bugger, isn't he?"
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked. "I haven't done anything wrong. In fact, you had no business coming to my house and attacking me! I'll have your head for this!" Harry grinned menacingly and leaned over the table at his captive.
"Oh believe me Draco," he said softly. "Once Pettigrew testifies under Veritaserum that you were Voldemort's spy...my head is the last thing you'll ever get to have."
"Spy?" Draco asked. "What are you on about? I'm not a spy -"
Harry backhanded Draco across the face, prompting Moody to step forward.
"Harry...." Hermione said, but his voice drowned out whatever she was going to say next.
"Bollocks!" he yelled. "You're the reason the Weasleys were attacked! Hermione almost died because you leaked information to Voldemort that they were returning to the Burrow! You let him know about Sirius' commemoration! AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO TELL ME YOU'RE INNOCENT?!"
"Calm down for a moment, will you?" Draco asked wincing at the purpling bruise forming on his right cheek. He sighed and looked at the floor before recapturing Harry's gaze. "I want a deal."
"You get to live," Harry replied. "That's your deal."
"No," Draco countered. "I want to be guaranteed freedom when my name finally gets cleared, along with the expunging of the arrest record, if there is any."
"And how is your name going to get cleared?" Moody asked. "Going to have one of Voldemort's lackeys pay off some of the higher ups?"
"No, you twit!" Malfoy yelled. "I'll get cleared because I'm innocent!"
"Bullshit," Harry said. "You're a spy, and you know it."
"I WAS A SPY!" Draco bellowed. "I'm not anymore!"
"Since when?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms. "Three minutes ago?"
"Since....since Ginny told me she loved me," Draco sighed, looking down. Harry snorted.
"Prove it," he said.
"Well I can't, obviously," Draco said. "Which is why I want the deal granting my freedom before I tell you anything." Harry pursed his lips and turned to Moody.
"I can't guarantee anything," the aged auror said. "But Kingsley is a good friend of mine. If you turn out to be innocent, I'll do my absolute best to make sure you're released."
"AND have my criminal record expunged?" Draco asked. Moody sighed but nodded nonetheless. "Fine. Where do you want me to begin?"
"A wise man once told me it's wise to start at the beginning, talk until you reach the end, and then stop," Harry said quoting something Dumbledore had once said to him. "Why don't we try that?"
"All right," Draco said with a sigh. "The plan was formed in our sixth year, right after the student body was told about the impending attack in Hogsmeade."
"What plan?" Hermione asked.
"Are you going to let me tell you the story or not?" Draco asked, annoyed. "Anyway," he continued. "When we, we being my father and I, found out that you knew about the attacks, we told the Dark Lord about it. He seemed to think this was a good thing, for whatever reason."
"So what did you do?" Moody asked.
"Nothing," replied Draco. "I was to stay in the castle during the attack. My father along with many others would still storm the village as planned."
"But that didn't really work out all that well, did it?" Harry asked.
"On the contrary, it worked perfectly," Draco said. "The aim was never to kill you there, Potter. Why do you think he purposely let slip the plan? He knew that if you knew, you would be there in full force, along with any 'weaknesses' you may have." He looked pointedly at Hermione as he said this. "The Dark Lord found out that you had a soft spot for Granger, and he managed to kill Lovegood and Weasley. The party that commenced in His name that night was extraordinary, or so I'm told."
"Couldn't you have just told him all this information yourself?" Hermione asked.
"I did," Draco answered. "But that wouldn't have killed Ron and Luna. He knew that. He also seemed to want to verify the information in person."
"All right," Harry said. "Continue."
"The entire plan for what happened a few months ago was thought of in the summer between sixth and seventh year," Draco said. "It was all a setup. There were two main objectives. My father and the death eaters he had with him were to capture Granger after attacking the train."
"What was the second?" Moody asked.
"For me to save Ginny," Draco replied. "I was supposed to be in the same car as hers when my father attacked to make it look like I had truly defected to Dumbledore's side when the time came for that. The portkey story I told you about half a year ago was only part true. There was a portkey, but I didn't create it. It was all timed perfectly so that the attack would coincide with the time I would need to save Ginny. The portkey was setup based upon the speed of the train and where it would be upon activation. The coordinates weren't a lucky guess on my part, it was all pre-planned."
"What about when you killed your father?" Harry asked.
"He pissed off the Dark Lord," Draco said with a shrug. "He didn't only fail with Granger, you know. There were tons of other things that he failed on as well."
"Like what?" asked Hermione.
"Well, it all started back in our second year, didn't it?" Draco responded. "He failed to bring Tom Riddle back to life with the diary. Then before our fourth year he was with all the death eaters at the Quidditch World Cup. The Dark Lord never really forgave any of them for that, torturing muggles and whatnot but not doing it in his name. Then in fifth year he failed to obtain the prophecy. After he failed to get Granger, he was given some mundane tasks such as getting potions ingredients from shopkeepers he knew in Knockturn Alley. Turns out, none of them wanted anything to do with him after his name started being constantly mentioned in the same sentence as 'death eater'."
"I thought Knockturn Alley catered to death eaters," Hermione said.
"Not consciously," Draco replied. "They may do business with some that they don't know about, but the Ministry keeps very close tabs on what happens in there. If they know that it's a death eater they're sellling to or buying from, they'll have them out of the shop quicker than you can say quidditch."
"How could shop owners stop death eaters?" Harry asked. "You would think that a servant of Voldemort would win in a duel."
"Knockturn Alley is a rough place, Potter," Draco said. "If you've been there you would know."
"I have been there, and I do know," Harry retorted.
"Then you would know that one would have to be insane to own a shop there and not have protection."
"What kind of protection?" Hermione asked. "Like the mafia?"
"Organised muggle crime," Draco scoffed. "Paying people to protect you, only to get brutally killed when you become late on a payment? Not likely. Wizards prefer a more safe way of protecting their stores."
"Like what?" Harry asked.
"Goblins," answered Draco simply.
"I've never seen a goblin in any shop I've been in," Harry said. "Knockturn Alley or otherwise."
"You'll find that goblins are a lot like Dumbledore," Draco said. "They can avoid being seen if they wish."
"So how do goblins protect the shops?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, they have their ways," Draco replied with a sadistic smile. "They may have lost the old wars and rebellions, but wizards never forget what they're capable of. Wizards who know what they're capable of, anyway."
"All right," Harry said. "So Lucius couldn't get these ingredients. What happened then?"
"Our master gave him an ultimatum," Draco replied. "Of course, in my mind I stopped thinking about him like that much earlier but -"
"Hold it just a minute," Moody interrupted. "I happen to know from a very reliable source that You-Know-Who is a master Legillimens. How could you possibly fool him into thinking you were still on his side if you really weren't?"
"One of the advantages to being Snape's favorite student," Malfoy said. "Is that he looks after you. He had a notion very early on that I would need more than just potion-brewing abilities to get anywhere in life. He started mentoring me in Occlumency in my second year."
"Did anyone know about this?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore did," Draco replied. "Or so Snape told me."
"Go on," Moody said after a moment, apparently satisfied.
"Anyway, the Dark Lord told my father that he had one last chance. He was to capture Granger and Ginny, and bring them back to him."
"What if he failed?" Hermione asked.
"He was told not to return without them," Draco said. "It was the Dark Lord's final chance to my father to flee and save his own life. All the rest of the death eaters knew he was a dead man if he returned, with or without the girls. He was too stupid to realise it though, and although he succeeded, I was ordered to kill him."
"To help strengthen the illusion that you were on our side," Harry said, more as a statement than a question.
"That's right," Draco replied. "He didn't know about the order to terminate his life, obviously, so his reaction was quite authentic, as you might recall."
"What about Kreacher?" Hermione asked. Draco cracked a small smile at this.
"Kreacher, being the filth that he is, obeyed the Dark Lord to no end. More so than my family. He was ordered by him in person to come with me and act as though I had been unfaithful to my 'master'. When we were in Dumbledore's office later wondering what became of him, it was an act on my part. I had been ordered to free him from the bond once his task was done. I couldn't do otherwise, it would have given me away."
"All right, fast forward to the attack on the Weasleys," Hermione said. "How do you explain that?"
"At that point in time, I had started losing prestige among the death eater ranks," he replied. "They thought I was half-assing my duties, and truth be told I was. I didn't know about the attack on the Weasleys until after it had already happened."
"You expect us to believe that?" Harry asked. "After all you supposedly went through in an act as a spy? You should've taken over as Voldemort's right-hand man. I can't believe that he wouldn't let you in on that plan."
"While Snape is a master occlumens, I unfortunately do not possess the raw talent that he has for the practice. The Dark Lord began to sense that I might not be completely trustworthy, and started treating me as such."
"This is starting to stretch a bit, but go on," Harry said, crossing his arms. "Tell me why you broke up with Ginny when you did." At this, Draco's face fell noticeably.
"I...it's....it's embarrassing," he said sullenly.
"You've been a double-agent and we don't really know whether to believe you or not," Harry said. "Your family's name is mud. How could you worry about being embarrassed after all of this?"
"I lied to her," Draco said, looking up. "I told her I loved her."
"But you didn't," Hermione said as a statement.
"I came to care for her as a sister...she helped me change from the monster I had become with the Dark Lord...but I could never love her the way she deserved to be loved."
"So instead of telling her the truth, you dumped her, lied to her again, and endangered her entire family," Harry said. "Good plan."
"Don't patronize me," Draco spat. "I did what I did to try to keep her safe."
"Well, that worked out well," Hermione said spitefully.
"Oh come off it!" Draco shouted. "If I had told her everything, and then they found out, she'd be dead before any of you could blink an eye. It doesn't matter what the Order thinks they can do, all it takes is three-tenths of a second to point a wand and say the words before she's cold and lifeless."
"Okay," said Harry, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "Suppose we believe you for a minute. Suppose I believe you for a minute. Why not tell the Order what was going on? Why keep everyone in the dark? We could have kept you safe."
"Did you not just hear my answer?" Draco asked. "You really are as daft as I made you out to be. There's a spy. You don't know who it is, you don't know who it could be. For all you know it could be someone in the Order. What if it is?"
Harry, Hermione, and Moody shared a wary look with each other at these words. Finally after a moment, Harry pulled them over into a corner of the room.
"What do you think?" Harry asked them. "You are the expert here, Moody."
"I don't know what to think," the old wizard said. "All the evidence is against him, but I'm pretty good at reading people. I think he's telling the truth."
"His story does match Pettigrew's," Hermione said thoughtfully. "And it would make sense. Peter would still think he was the spy."
"If that is the case though..." Harry said, not wanting to think about the possibility of there being another spy. Sighing, he turned around and faced Draco. "As of right now, we're not making any decisions. We'll hold you here until we can tell Dumbledore everything and he can decide what to do with you."
"I suppose asking for something to drink would be a bit much?" Draco asked. A brilliant idea suddenly crossed Harry's mind.
"As punishment for your crimes," he said imperiously, though inside he was grinning madly. "You shall be taken care of by -"
"Did someone ask for a drink?" a small voice asked, followed by a crack announcing the arrival of a house-elf.
"Dobby," Harry finished. Malfoy's eyes widened.
"Um....master Harry....sir...I don't....I don't thinks it is a good idea for me to be taking care of Malfoy..."
"He is our prisoner right now, Dobby," Hermione said. "Treat him as such."
"....Very well, Miss Hermione," Dobby said after much hesitation, and with two loud cracks, both he and Draco disappeared.
"I know house-elves can't really hurt anyone," Moody said with a grin. "But that ought'a be good."
"I agree," Harry said. "Now, I'm really exhausted with all that's happened today. I hope you won't mind if I go to bed now."
"Not at all, Potter," Moody said. "And by the way, you did an excellent job today. I'm impressed."
"Thank you, sir."
"You too, Granger. Good work."
"Thanks, sir," Hermione said, her cheeks showing a tinge of pink.
"I'm off to find Dumbledore and let him know what's happened. I'll see you two on Monday then," Moody said. Without another word, he disapparated.
"Are you coming to bed?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Hermione replied as they made their way out of the basement kitchen and up the stairs. "I can barely see straight."
They continued up to the third floor, pausing briefly on the stairs to confirm that it was indeed Dobby singing at the top of his lungs somewhere in the house. Smiling, they reached Harry's room and didn't bother to undress before collapsing on the bed, exhausted.
"What a day," Harry commented.
"Understatement of the year," Hermione muttered. She turned over so she was on her side, facing him. "Do you think he's guilty?"
"Honestly?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded. "No," he answered after a minute.
"I agree," she said. "His story, while a bit far-fetched does make perfect sense."
"Yeah," Harry replied. "Though if he is telling the truth, we now have a big problem on our hands."
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"There's still a spy in the Ministry, they somehow always know what we're doing, and now we have absolutely no clues or leads to go on."
"Why wouldn't Pettigrew know?" she asked.
"Voldemort isn't stupid," Harry replied. "If he didn't tell Peter, he didn't tell anyone else. That much is obvious. The only two people who know who the spy is right now are Voldemort and the spy himself."
"So what do we do?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed and stared at the ceiling.
"I don't know."
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