Chapter 17-Pulling Teeth
"He has to be lying."
"Maybe. Maybe not."
"I mean, who would wait that long for us to maybe, possibly marry and to maybe have a child?"
"I think he's making a lot of it up; that he heard something and filled in the holes, Hermione. I don't think he just decided to make up a story."
"So, you think that maybe someone was out to get Janie?"
"Possibly. It's always on my mind that if I let my guard down she'll be gone."
There was a long pause and Harry felt Hermione's gaze on him as he stirred the soup around in his bowl.
"Oh, Harry…I'm so sorry you have to think that every day!" her hand reached out and touched his free one. He curled his fingers around hers and squeezed it reassuringly.
"It's alright. Part of being Harry Potter."
"It's not alright. No one should have to live with that. No one." She tightened her grip emphasizing her point.
"Maybe something like that is happening to Malfoy," Harry started slowly looking up and over Hermione's head. She had a map of England posted behind her and he let his gaze run around the familiar shape.
"Someone is threatening his family?"
"Maybe. Maybe he is involved, against his will because of threats on his family? Either way, maybe he thought luring me out into the public, where someone could get me or Janie, would make it seem like he's the `good guy'…so he made up that story. I mean, come on! What group would wait for us to marry and have a kid?" Harry glanced at her and saw a slight flush rise to her face and suddenly something clicked.
"You know, that sounds like it--," Hermione started taking her hand from his and avoiding his gaze. Harry interrupted her and pushed his soup away.
"You lied to me Hermione."
"I-what?" she looked at him in confusion.
"You said you hadn't really thought about marriage…with you and me."
"I haven't really."
"Then who was that baby I saw you holding in your memories? Remember when you let me see how much you thought of Janie and me?" he pressed.
"You weren't supposed to see that," Hermione murmured, covering her face with her hands.
"What? Was that another child I could have?"
She remained quiet and let her hands drop to the table. Harry knew exactly what she was thinking but remained patiently quiet wanting her to say it. He took another sip of his soup and watched her fiddle with her sandwich.
"Fine. You are going to think I'm jumping the gun or…getting all emotional but it was what I thought our baby would look like. It was just a random thought I had one day while playing with Janie, before you left for Italy. I honestly have never pictured me walking down some aisle with you or what dress I would wear. It was just a…thought." Hermione shifted in her chair and quickly shifted the conversation to Draco, finishing her thought from earlier-taking advantage of Harry's stunned silence.
"So, as you were saying…about Malfoy. I think you may be onto something. A few of the questions I put on that parchment were along the lines of: "What did you do between Christmas time when you heard of this plot and the time you received your first note? And, how many notes have there been? Was there any other contact?" So, we may find something out from that. He could be afraid to say things aloud, that's why I have him writing. You and I know the ministry is a safe place to talk, but you know he won't trust it further than he can throw it."
"Smart move," Harry responded, still trying to wrap his mind around him and Hermione possibly having a child. "Well, once we are done here we'll see how he's doing on those questions. Then we can quiz him a bit more on that nice story he told us."
She nodded her mouth full and a slightly uncomfortable silence fell over the office. For the first time, they were forced to think about their long term relationship. And with their loved ones hanging in a portrait out in the hall, it was a very unsettling feeling for both of them.
---
"Malfoy!" Harry said for the second time and Draco jerked upright, not apologizing for falling asleep in his chair. He sat back and blinked at Harry, his eyes bloodshot. The guards had given Hermione the paperwork and she was already flipping through the questions, making exasperated noises as she did so.
"Is any of this true?" Hermione looked up at Draco and Harry sat back tiredly. They had only been in the Ministry for three and a half hours and it felt like a full days work already. Taking off his glasses he rubbed his eyes, distractedly wondering if it was time to do away with them. They were an annoyance when sparring and lately his daughter had taken to trying to try them on herself, resulting in a few `reparo' spells.
"Is it the same story?" Harry asked Hermione stifling a yawn.
"With a few discrepancies. Malfoy…you're lying. I really don't want to go through the paperwork to request the use of Vertiserum. It would look much better if you cooperated." Hermione snapped her quill against the parchment and looked at him angrily. "Don't pull this sneaky Slytherin stunt, because it's not going to work. Our patience is short and if you don't come clean, I'll go start the paperwork for the potion. The Minister won't be happy if I have to deliver a special Owl to him on a Saturday."
"Not to mention, he'd have to come in and be a witness when we gave it to you and I think he has tickets to the Canons Quidditch match this evening."
"They'll lose anyway," Draco yawned widely and met Harry's gaze tiredly. "Look, I'm telling you what I need to tell you. I have a lot at stake here and right now my family is more important than you, but yet even I know the importance of a wizard debt. I did what I needed to by `pretending' to get caught watching this group and then telling you a bit about their plan. Now you know their cause, where they last met, how many there are…," he leaned over a bit and pointed at the parchment under Hermione's hands. "If I told you the full, exact story then they'll know it's me and my life would be at stake. As would my wife and son's…and maybe my parents."
"How would they know it's you and not someone within the group?" Harry asked sliding his glasses back on and stretching out in his chair.
"They all made an oath and something will happen to them if one tells…similar to what happened to that Edgecomb girl back with your little Dumbledore's Army group. I am the only outsider that has been contacted about the group and I made it known I wasn't interested."
"How do you know they believe you and don't have you being tailed?" Harry questioned.
"They don't. I know someone in that group, but I don't associate with them anymore. I'd know and Priscilla, well…she has a sixth sense about things and I trust her. If you can't trust the cousin of Viktor Krum who can you trust?"
Harry let out a bark of laughter.
"Figures you'd marry into that family. Anyway, so back to this little plot. We need to know. Now. I'm tired, you're tired and we'd all like to get back to our families. You tell us, we can provide you with protection…yeah, you shake your head but you don't know what can be done for you and your family. There are places we can send you, people that will protect you when we tell them too. Believe it or not, you are quite safe. That's the main reason she and I took this job, Malfoy. To make sure Aurors are doing their job right and to improve upon what had been started before…everything." Harry saw Draco close his eyes for a moment, and he hoped he was considering defeat. He felt Hermione nudge his knee and he glanced down, seeing a small piece of paper with the words "wizarding debt?" and immediately knew what to tell him next.
"You owe me two debts Malfoy, well two that I'll collect on anyway. One is you coming here and letting us know that, apparently, I'm in trouble. I'll consider the second on you coming clean, telling us everything you know and in return we'll keep you, Priscilla and Scorpius safe. How old is he anyway?"
"A year last week," Draco sighed running his hands through his hair.
"Wonderful. He, Ben and Janie will all be in the same class, if he indeed goes to Hogwarts," Hermione chimed in seeing that Draco was actually responding to questions.
"He'll be there…and how do you propose to keep my family safe? Make us disappear to Siberia or something?"
"No, Malfoy. We have houses around England that even you don't know exist. We can send out stories about a long trip you are taking with your family and even put your picture right there, next to some famous monument, without you leaving England." Harry crossed his fingers under the table seeing themselves inch closer to pulling the truth out of Malfoy.
"You tell us and the information doesn't go past my department. There's no way it can with the charms placed upon each of our team members. It doesn't get in the paper, you get out of here within the hour, once we verify it's true, and all we do is keep track of you if you choose to go back into the regular world. We ask that you notify us of any trips you take or if anything disturbs you. However, if you don't feel secure we can arrange for you to go somewhere with your family. No one will know what our plan is, including you, or how long it'll take to implement except: Harry, myself, the former Supervisor who still has a hand in things, Auror Clogkey, and our team as I said." Hermione pulled out a few fresh sheets of parchment as she explained everything and was ready to write down his statement.
Harry could tell the hesitancy Draco was experiencing was due to the conflict he was feeling about the debt and the pride he had as a Malfoy and Slytherin. The chapter in Hogwarts: A History dedicated to the defeat of Voldemort slid into Harry's head and gave him one last idea to try on Draco Malfoy.
Leaning forward, Harry lowered his voice and noticed he had Draco's attention.
"After this is all said and done, it will then make the papers. Papers all over the world will pick up the feed that there was a plot to kill me, to take my daughter or whatever the case may be. It will then be asked how we found out and your name will come up as someone who knew enough between right and wrong to come forward and do his duty to keep the wizarding community safe. Hell, Hermione and I will have to publicly thank you for putting your life, your family's safety on the line because of what you have done. I can only imagine what Headmistress McGonagall will think of all that! It would probably give her more gray hair!"
Hermione let out what Harry knew to be a soft snort of laughter, but she quickly covered it up with a cough.
Draco uttered a few expletives and laid his forehead on the table finally admitting defeat. Harry wasn't sure if it
was because the thought of becoming famous; maybe more famous than Harry himself (for a short while) was the cause of
Draco's revealing story, or the fact that making him a family man had shown him down the moral path of right versus
wrong.
And two hours later Draco headed back to his home thinking he was safe enough for the time being to stay at his mansion, while Harry and Hermione wrote up their reports commenting on the best way to handle their emergency team meeting that evening.
After a few hours at Molly and Arthur's with the children, they left after the kids went to sleep and apparated back into the Ministry.
John, Isabel, and the other aurors were waiting in the conference room, excited to be doing what their training had been preparing them for.
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