Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 12 - Betrayal

An: I do not own Harry Potter

Peter Petrigrew made his way quickly to Slytherin manor. For once his master would be pleased with him. He was sure none of the other Slytherins had found Draco yet and he relished in giving his master the news. As soon as he heard that Draco was there he scampered around to the front of the house and transformed back into his normal body. He was easily able to cover the distance to the forest then and retrieve his horse. He was positive no one would have seen him since they were all occupied in the back.

He rode his horse hard through the large gates of Slytherin Manor. He tried to jump off the horse the way he used to see James and Sirius doing it but his boot got caught in the stirrup and he ended up flat on his face. Fortunately no one but his horse was around to see the sad display. Once he recovered from the impact, he disentangled himself. He slowly limped towards the basement where his master was waiting.

"Was the girl there?" his master asked right away.

"Yes," Peter said.

"Excellent, once we find the young Malfoy and complete the ritual we can proceed with the last stage of the plan,"

"I know where he is," Wormtail said.

Salazaar looked at him, "Well speak!"

"He's at Granger Estate as well. James is hiding him there while they distract the Slytherins,"

"So the boy did get to the Aurors. We will have to fix this quickly. Summon the rest of my servants. We are going to have to take Draco and the girl by force."

"James Potter and his son Harry were there as well,"

"Even better we collect the boy and the girl and pin the massacre on James who went crazy after his dismissal from the Auror office,"

"James isn't an Auror anymore?" Peter asked confused.

"He was hampering our plans and I remove people who hamper my plans. Do I need to remind you of that?" Salazaar said as Nagini started to hiss in anticipation of a meal.

"No my Lord,"

"You are going to go to Granger Estate looking for James. You're going to disarm him and then we will storm."

"Disarm James!" Peter questioned. He didn't have the skills for that.

"You will have the element of surprise. Now go and do as I say."

"Yes, my Lord,"

Wormtail scurried away to summon the others and prepare for the plans that evening.

S-2

Ginny interrupted the conversation at tea to announce that Draco was waking up. James called Harry and Hermione in, leaving a stableman to attend to Europa. They quickly made their way upstairs. Hermione countered the charm she had placed on the door, said the secret password and they all entered the room.

"Gee if all I had to do was get mortally injured to gather such a concerned crowd, I would have done this a long time ago," Draco muttered sarcastically.

"Idiot, if you were mortally injured you would be dead!" Hermione said crossly,

"How are you feeling Draco," Lilly asked as she moved to his side to inspect his wound and check on his fever.

"Like I went ten rounds with that troll," Draco replied.

"Hey, I barely survived one round," Harry said.

"Good thing I'm the better Auror then," Draco replied.

"His ego certainly wasn't injured. He's still the same Malfoy overestimating his abilities," Ron said.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Draco what happened?" she asked softly.

The platinum blonde seemed to freeze up at that point.

"Draco you need to tell us. Your father and the rest of the Slytherin Manor are looking for you," James explained.

"No, you can't let them find me!" he exclaimed panicked.

"Why?" James pressed.

"Mr. Riddle is crazy! He thinks he's Salazaar Slytherin and wants to take my body or something like that but in order to take my body, I have to die. They had some crazy ritual they were going to conduct with Troll blood and a host of other rare items for some supposedly powerful potion to expel my soul. When they were about to administer it, Dobby appeared and stopped it. He gave me my wand. I think his surprise interruption brought us enough time to get out of there, though Snape got a good hit in when I was exiting the basement."

Draco's eyes bulged out of his head, "What did they do to Dobby?"

"Is Malfoy showing concern for a house elf?" Ron said, "Now I've seen everything,"

"This isn't some house elf, this is a house elf that save my life. The last thing I remember, Dobby brought me here and then disappeared."

"So that's how you got here. I wondered how you could travel so far with that wound," Lilly commented.

"Were your parents there?" James asked.

"Parents," Draco spat bitterly, "they served me up on a silver platter. Though I think in the confusion Mom might have help me escape by knocking into a few wizards that were aiming spells at me. It was subtle so I don't think anyone realised what she did."

A knock at the door had every wizard in the room raising their wands, "come in," James said.

Edward appeared at the door, "Peter is here to see you,"

"Peter?" James questioned, "How did he know I was here?"

"I don't know. I didn't interrogate him." Edward snapped at him. He was on edge since he discovered the wounded Malfoy.

"Why would Peter come here to see me?" James said,

"I don't know go ask him yourself. He's your friend. I asked him to wait in the study for you."

James had an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach but he brushed it off. Lilly recognising the look on his face, offered to join him. Edward threw a nasty look at Draco before closing the door and following the adults downstairs.

"I told you your father doesn't like me," Draco said to Hermione who rolled her eyes at him.

"No one likes you," Ron piped up.

"That's not true," Luna countered. She had been so silent in the corner of the room they forgot she was there.

"Is it safe for you to be here?" Ginny asked Draco.

"It's safer than Slytherin Manor," Draco replied.

"But Dobby knows you're here. How long before they find the elf? Wizards have ways of making elves talk. Perhaps we should move you someplace else."

"You have a point," Draco said thinking it over. "But there's nowhere to hide?"

"The Burrow?" Ginny suggested. "No one would look for you there."

"He can't come to the Burrow," Ron said automatically.

"Why not?" Luna asked.

"It is a good idea," Harry repeated.

"Do you think you can ride a horse?" Hermione asked Draco.

"I'm not an invalid. I may be a bit sore but I can get to the Burrow."

"Great," Ginny said slapping her hands together, "let's leave now."

"So my opinion has just been completely disregarded," Ron spat at his sister.

"Pretty much," the three girls said at the same time ignoring his tone.

"Should we at least tell our parents?" Ron asked.

"Nope," Harry said, "This gives them plausible deniability. The only people who know were Draco is would be the six of us."

"Harry and I will stay here. The rest of you go with Draco. We'll join you tonight."

"Let's get moving," Luna ordered much to Ron's chagrin.

S-3

On the way down the stairs, Edward stopped James and Lilly on the landing between the floors.

"I don't like this!" Edward insisted.

"Edward everything will be fine. Now that Draco's almost recovered we will move him to another location. You don't have to worry about his presence here." James said.

"It's not only that. I feel like I don't know Hermione anymore. For years she's been friends with that boy and the Lovegood girl and I'm only now finding out about it."

Lilly put her hand on Edward's arm, "She's growing up and making decisions for herself. You should be proud. She's very independent."

"Hey, at least she's not being thrown in jail." James point out. His group had been famous for disorderly conduct in their younger days. They used to drive the Aurors mad.

Edward glowered at James. "Go deal with your friend. Out of the four of you, I always thought he was the least annoying one."

James laughed at him. "Wormtail is wormtail,"

Some minutes later James and Lilly entered the study were Peter was waiting for them at the window. As soon as he turned around they noticed his wand was drawn.

"Accio James's wand," Peter shouted and James's wand went flying into Peter's hand. Peter smirked proud of himself. He had outsmarted the great James Potter. "The Great Auror Potter disarmed by someone like me."

"You got me," James said with a smile holding out his hand to retrieve his wand.

"Not so fast James," Peter said snapping James's wand.

"Peter what's the meaning of this? Is this some joke?" James asked staring in horror at his broken wand.

"The jokes on you," Peter responded nastily. "For years, everything was James this, James that. I was always the last one in the back. Nobody noticed me. I had to leave town to gain any recognition. Now I'll be known as the wizard that took down the Great James Potter,"

He shot a beam of light out of window and they saw a bunch of figures emerge from the forest and start to converge on the house.

James pulled Lilly closer to him and his hand rested close to the hidden pocket in her gown where she stored her wand. He was suddenly grateful that Peter had missed all of those years when he was travelling or he would have known that Lilly always travelled with a wand. James had never restricted her use of magic to the house as he had always wanted her to be able to defend herself if necessary. He dipped his hand into the pocket while Peter glanced at the approaching figures. When Peter turned back it was to a flash of light before he fell unconscious.

"James," Lilly asked fearfully.

He handed her back her wand, "I'll use Peter's. We need to get up to the kids."

They rushed out of the study to find Edward running down the corridor at them, "the residents of Slytherin house are attacking. They know Draco's here."

"I realise that. Peter has betrayed us." James said.

"What's going on?" Harry and Hermione asked from the landing.

"Get back upstairs!" James ordered.

"Perhaps we should turn Draco over?" Edward asked.

"Draco isn't here," Hermione said, "We took him somewhere safe,"

The adults looked at them for a moment before the front door was knocked off of its hinges.

"Harry, get Hermione out of here. Edward, come with us, tell all of your staff to get out," James ordered.

Harry's hand easily slipped into Hermione's and he dragged her back up the stairs summoning his broom at the same time. They ran to the nearest bedroom and Hermione sealed the door behind her. They listened to the fighting going on downstairs and Lucius Malfoy shouting for his son.

"Father," Hermione said worriedly.

"Don't worry, my dad will get him out." Harry said.

Harry's broom arrived at the window and hovered there. Harry jumped on to it and offered Hermione his hand.

"Uh uh, I'm not getting on that," Hermione said.

"Would you rather I left you to them then?" He asked.

She chewed on her bottom lip of a few seconds before she grabbed his hand. He easily hauled her on to the broom and wrapped her hands securely around his torso.

"Hold on to me tight!" Harry said. Hermione held on tight and closed her eyes.

She felt him zig and zag.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I don't know yet but we got company," Harry admitted.

Hermione turned around to see three Slytherins pursuing them.

"Gryffinor Manor," Hermione suddenly said.

"We can't get in there."

"But we did. The night of the troll. I think we were there."

"That wasn't a dream?" Harry asked.

"No I think it's real."

"I hope you're right or this is going to end very badly for us," he said changing his direction.

Harry swerved left and right to avoid flying spells. She admired that Harry was even able to take one hand off the broom and fire back accurately at their pursuers. She barely had enough strength to hold on to him, much less battle with another wizard on a broom. As they flew closer to the Manor they noticed that the front door was open. They headed straight for it. As soon as they were inside it swung shut behind them, locking their pursuers out. They were safe for now.

S-4

Ginny looked back at Granger Estate. They had just made it into the forest line when they heard a group of wizards approaching. They levitated themselves into the trees and hid. They recognised the wizards as Slytherins. They immediately knew that they were there for Draco. They saw a flash of light from the estate and the wizards below them surged forward to storm the Estate.

"Oh no!" Luna exclaimed.

"We have to get to the Burrow," Draco said.

"We have to help Harry," Ron insisted.

"We are vastly outnumbered. Harry will be fine. He is a trained Auror," the platinum blonde wizard replied.

"You may abandon your friends and family Draco but we don't," Ron countered.

"Guys, I think they just escaped on a broom. They'll expect us at the Burrow. We have to go now." Ginny said

"This is all your fault Malfoy!" Ron started.

"How is it my fault?" Draco asked.

"STOP IT!" Luna yelled at them. "We need to move now. Those wizards want Draco, so being here isn't exactly a good idea. Now stop fighting like an old married couple."

The boys glared at each other but continued moving in the direction of the Burrow.

S-5

Godric's Hollow was a bustle of activity. James had summoned Sirius and Remus immediately to explain what Peter had done. Edward was busy pacing in the foyer waiting for Harry and Hermione. They hoped they would come there. James was positive that they would have escaped unharmed. Lilly took Charles and Ana to Molly at the Burrow.

A commotion in the hallway drew James's immediate attention. Lee Chang had entered followed by a team of Auroros, including a guilty looking Frank.

"Arrest them!" Lee ordered immediately.

"I'm sorry James but we have an order and I'm bound to follow it," Frank said.

James nodded and put his wand down. "What are you charging us with?"

"Kidnapping. The Malfoy's said you conspired with Edward Granger, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin to kidnap Draco. If you cooperate and tell us where he is we can go easy on you," Frank explained to them.

"This is nonsense!" Sirius stated drawing his wand.

"These are all allegations. Where is the proof?" Remus asked placing a hand carefully on Sirius's arm to get him to stand down.

"Your other co-conspirator Peter Petigrew turned you all in!" Lee said boastfully. "We have all the evidence we need to put you away for life."

"The Malfoy's plotted this themselves. You're probably in their pocket," Sirius responded angrily.

"Is that how you have been making all your profits Lee?" Edward asked as he finally realised something.

"The ramblings of a crazy wizard," Lee commented.

"It's not crazy. You've been trying to buy up all the land around Gryffindor estate. I refused to sell so you've resorted to this sick plot. I'm not going to let it stand. I'm going to prove this is all your doing!" Edward shouted.

"Good luck proving that in prison," Lee smirked at him.

Quicker than everyone thought was possible for Edward, he drew his wand and stunned Lee. He aimed his wand at the Aurors along with Sirius.

"You're outnumbered," Frank said to him.

"I know. But I need to prove Lee is behind this and he's right. I can't do it from prison." Edwards said.

"Let us go," James pleaded to his former second in command. "You know none of this is right. Something is very wrong here. We have no idea where Draco is but I hope he's safe because he's our proof that none of us were behind this. "

Frank nodded. He had a hard time himself believing the charges which was why he walked with a team of Aurors that was loyal to James. Looking at his team, they were all willing to let them go.

"Frank, you have to make sure you get to Draco before anyone from Slytherin," Remus emphasised.

"We'll find the boy. You'll need to stun us so it doesn't look like we let you escape," Frank said.

"No problem with that!" Sirius smirked and the team was down on the ground in seconds.

"Did you have to enjoy that so much?" Remus asked.

"I've been itching to have a brush with law enforcement for a while. It kinda sucks when your best friend is the head Auror,"

"We need to figure out our next step," James said.

"Pack our stuff and get out of here," Sirius responded

"No we don't need anything," Edward said, "We need to get to Slytherin house. If he's been doing business with them then the records are there."

"Ah take the fight to them I like it," Sirius commented approvingly.

"They won't be there," James pointed out, "You heard them, they are still looking for Draco. The kids got away. I trust them to take care of themselves."

"Slytherin Manor it is then!" Sirius said

S-6

"Here we are again!" Hermione commented as she looked at the house elves in front of her.

"Yes Mistress, the time has come,"

"The time has come for what exactly?" Harry asked.

"To stop Salazar Slytherin,"

"So Draco's story was true then," Hermione surmised, "Salazar really is alive."

"Yes he sought immortality but our master stopped him,"

"And your master is?" Harry asked.

"Godric Gryffindor?"

"He's alive?" Hermione asked shocked.

"No he is dead. Salazar killed him but before he did it, Godric took the last item that was needed for the immortality spell and sealed it away in this Manor. He used a spell to ensure that only the heirs who are worthy of the Manor and capable of stopping Salazar will be allowed to enter. We house elves were set the task of ensuring that the house was maintained and everything would be in place for your arrival."

"Pinch me Harry, this must be a nightmare," Hermione commented.

He pinched her.

"Ow, that hurt,"

"It's not a nightmare then." He commented dryly. "So we are those heirs?"

"You are," the elf replied.

"So how do we stop him then?"

"Since he could not obtain the final piece, he resorted to transferring his soul from one host vessel to another but that requires a lot of magic and over the centuries it has begun to damage his soul and weaken him. He waits until the current vessel he is housing is near death before he jumps into a new younger vessel. He is currently in Mr. Riddle and last night he attempted to get into Draco Malfoy but an elf friend of ours was able to save him,"

"Dobby!" Hermione exclaimed. "Is he safe?"

"He is. The wizards that search for him will not find him."

"So back to my original question how do we stop him?"

"Godric left this journal. His instructions were for both of you to read it. You will know what to do," the elf said handing them the journal and leaving them alone in the room.

"I guess we read then," Hermione said.

"I hate reading," Harry commented as he grudgingly sat in a chair next to her.

Before he had even reached halfway down the page she was flipping it. "Hey, I didn't finish that page,"

"You'll need to read faster,"

"I'm reading as fast as I can,"

"You're slowing me down,"

"Well then make a copy of the journal,"

"I think I'll do just that," she waved her wand and a copy appeared in her hand.

They both set about the task of reading the journal.

S-7

Lilly, Charles and Ana arrived at the Burrow. Molly greeted them and hustled them inside.

"Hello Lilly," Molly greeted her brightly giving her a bone crushing hug. She used the opportunity to whisper in her ear "we need to get inside quickly". "So what brings you to the Burrow today?"

"There was some trouble at Granger Estate and I have to help James sort it out. I was wondering if Charles and Ana could stay here," she said following Molly inside.

"They are always welcome. It's a pity none of my other children are here though but I think the twins will be home soon," she said loudly before stepping inside.

Molly quickly closed the door behind Lilly and cast a silencing charm on the door.

"Sorry about that but you never know what Slytherin ear might have been around. The twins said they just sent a team to arrest your husband and his co-conspirators on a plot to kidnap Draco,"

"What?" Lilly exclaimed.

"Dad didn't kidnap Draco. That's not true," Charles protested.

"I know that. The young Malfoy is here and he is the key to lifting these erroneous charges. He must be protected."

"Oh thank God, I was hoping the kids got out."

Molly looked a bit guilty, "Ron, Ginny, Luna and Draco left before the fighting started. They took the decision on their own that he couldn't stay there anymore and he needed another safe place. They were already in the forest when the attack started. We know Harry and Hermione got out on the broom but they haven't come here. Draco and Ron both feel it's because they don't want to lead a trail here."

"I will check on Draco quickly and then leave. I'll find William and send him here under the guise that he is to watch his siblings."

"Are you sure you should leave?" Molly asked.

"Yes, I need to continue on as if I know nothing. It is safer for the children that way."

Lilly checked on Draco. His fever had broken and he was looking stronger. She instructed him that he could only do basic level magic and gave Ginny the task of enforcing that order. She exited the Burrow chatting away pleasantly with Molly about the boy's obsession with the Quidditch World Cup. They noticed two ladies from Slytherin house casually strolling by. Neither missed the way their eyes were scanning every detail around them or the way they were subtly using their wands to scan for magical signatures.

"I thought the ladies of Slytherin Manor didn't use magic," Molly commented under her breath to Lilly.

"I guess that was just an illusion to make us all feel safe," Lilly replied quietly as she reached the gate to the Burrow.

"Thank you for keeping an eye on my youngest children for me. I must go help James," Lilly said.

"It's not a problem. I always like having the young ones around."

Lilly smiled before turning around and striding forward to her horse. She needed to get to William and figure out the next step her family should take. She doubted Sirius gave in without a fight.

She arrived at the Auror office to find Tonks and Julie already there. She was brought up to speed on the situation when Frank pulled her aside. He advised her to take the other women and get somewhere safe. Lee was howling mad and there was no guarantee he wouldn't try and arrest them for their husband's escape. Lilly grabbed her son and ordered him to the Burrow. He protested at first but then she pointed out that he was effectively taking orders from the man that tried to arrest his father. All protest stopped after that.

Once she saw her son off in the direction of the Burrow, she told the other ladies to follow her. She would fill them in while they rode.

"Where are we going?" Tonks asked Lilly after she had explained everything to them.

"To find Narcissa Malfoy," Lilly replied.

An: Thanks for reading. This chapter felt like a runaway freight train barrelling towards a cliff!

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