Chapter 32: Draco's Legacy.
Lucius Malfoy was tucking into a late lunch in his palatial manor home when his remaining house-elf entered the room with a letter on a silver tray. Snatching up the note, he idly wondered whom it could be from as he slit open the envelope.
The predatory smile that split his face as he read the contents of the letter wouldn't have been out of place on a Cheshire Cat. His lunch forgotten, Lucius summoned a quill and some parchment and composed a brief note to his lord before including a copy of the note from the Goblins at Gringotts.
Disdainfully, he called out, "Elf!" When the tiny creature hobbled into the room, he gave it a look of loathing before speaking down to the filthy vermin, "It took you long enough to get here. Make sure to punish yourself harshly when you return from delivering this letter to the Dark Lord."
Trembling, the diminutive elf accepted the letter from her master before popping away to do his bidding.
Looking at the spot that the elf had just vacated, his lip curled in revulsion. House-elves disgusted him to no end but they were extremely useful. Since the debacle with Dobby, he made sure that his remaining elf wasn't seen by anyone but his fellow Death Eaters. Lucius also made sure that there was a standing order never to accept clothes from any family member in any way, shape, or form.
Just thinking about how that insignificant brat, Potter, had freed Dobby made his blood boil. Pushing those thoughts aside, he wiped his mouth on a pressed linen napkin, dropped it on the table, then rose from his chair and headed down to the cellar where he had a makeshift dungeon that was currently occupied by a muggle family.
As he approached the dungeon, he could hear the screams from the filthy muggle woman. Stepping into the room, he walked up to the screaming woman and backhanded her as hard as he could.
Snatching up a handful of her matted hair, he wrenched her head up to look into her eyes. Seeing, and smelling, her fear made his pulse quicken. His aristocratic drawl had an edge of pleasure in it as he whispered harshly, "Shut your mouth you filthy muggle before I give you something to really scream about."
Turning to face Crabbe and Goyle, he said in a voice that would not be out of place at Sunday dinner, "You two will stake out Gringotts and I will keep watch in Diagon Alley. Sirius Black was spotted there today and we may get lucky and catch him, or Potter, for our master." Pulling out the note from the Goblin, he handed it over to them and said, "Here is the description of what Black looked like. Look for him because I'm sure that if Potter goes to the bank, he will be disguised as well."
With one last glance at the muggle woman cowering in the corner, Lucius smirked, and said to her absolute horror, "Of course, please finish up with her. I should be ready to depart in half an hour." Her cries of pain and despair were like music to his ears as he headed back up to finish his lunch.
Lunch was just winding down in the Great Hall within Hogwarts. Some students were milling about, chatting with their friends, while others began to head off to do who knows what before they left for the summer.
As Harry, Hermione, the twins, Ginny, and Neville were getting up to leave the hall, Draco Malfoy sauntered over in his normal colored robes with a snarl of disgust on his pale face. Inwardly groaning, Harry wondered if he could ever go a day without interacting with the pompous fool.
Malfoy stepped up to the group of Gryffindors and said in his nasal drawl, "You cheated didn't you, Potter? There is no other explanation for how you managed to win the tournament."
Ginny was about to retort when a raised hand from Harry stilled her tongue. Fuming at Malfoy's slight, she settled for glaring at him while tapping her finger on the handle of her wand.
Slowly moving to the side, Harry positioned himself with his back to the Slytherin Table and putting his friends behind Malfoy. As he was moving, he began stretching out his magical senses, alert for an attack. Smirking, Harry looked back at Malfoy and said simply, "You're jealous, Malfoy." Taking a stab in the dark, Harry guessed, "You're mad that you didn't get picked by the Goblet after you paid an older student to put your name in. It must really brass you off that I won the blasted tournament and I didn't even enter myself."
Malfoy's cheeks began turning red in his anger and embarrassment. Snatching his wand out of his robes, he leveled it at Potter and roared, "Confringo!"
The Blasting Hex rocketed from Draco's wand but Harry had already stepped aside, letting the spell pass by harmlessly. The hex connected with the Slytherin Table with disastrous results. Shards of wood were sent flying in every direction as the hex obliterated the table, wounding a dozen students in the process.
Draco looked on in horror as his spell destroyed the Slytherin House Table. When the screams of his injured housemates reached his ears, he forgot all about the furious wizard in front of him.
Harry had begun pooling his magic the moment he felt Malfoy's spell start to leave his wand. As he sidestepped the lethal hex, he brought his own wand to bear and sent a Binding Jinx at the inbred fool. Ropes shot from the tip of Harry's wand, tightly wrapping around Malfoy causing him to fall over backwards.
Students were screaming while the teachers were rushing towards the injured students to treat the wounded as best as they could. The ghosts flew from the Great Hall to fetch Madam Pomfrey as quickly as possible.
Stepping over to Malfoy, Harry kicked aside the idiot's wand, stunned him, and then turned his attention to the chaos over at the Slytherin Table.
Professor Snape was feverishly attending to Daphne Greengrass. She had been the closest to the blast and her body was riddled with shrapnel from the explosion. Her face was a bloody mess and her right shoulder looked like it had been put through a meat grinder.
As Madam Pomfrey came rushing into the Great Hall, she quickly took stock of the situation. Realizing that Severus would be dealing with the most injured student, she rushed over and began working with him to save the young woman's life.
Silently, Harry watched the scene unfolding in front of him. Malfoy's actions had driven home the point that all wizards and witches were armed and dangerous. He realized that he was going to have to learn how to keep his magical senses attuned at all times, not just when he felt like he was in danger. Shaking his head at the thought of Malfoy actually teaching him something, Harry stepped back over to Hermione and their friends.
Hermione was hugging herself in horror at the spectacle in front of her. She knew Daphne, not well, but they were on semi-friendly terms. When Harry approached her, she threw herself into his arms and whispered in his ear, "Do you think that Daphne will be okay?"
Glancing at the carnage in front of them, Harry's posture slumped and that told her just as much as his reply, "No. I think her arm is really badly damaged and she is definitely going to have a bunch of new scars if she can be healed."
Fred and George had watched the entire confrontation unfold in silence. When Harry had positioned himself with his back to the Slytherin Table, they thought that he was insane. Now, they realized that he did it to protect his friends. Realizing that it could have easily been all of them on the receiving end of that hex made them shudder at the thought.
Silently, George walked over to the entrance to the Great Hall and cancelled the prank from the morning while Fred was undoing the trigger on the benches. They both understood that this was not a time for pranks.
Madam Pomfrey and Severus Snape were working franticly on Miss Greengrass. The young woman had lost a lot of blood and it looked like she was going to lose her arm from the shoulder down if they were going to save her life. Turning her head to her colleague, she whispered, "Severus, I'm going to have to take her arm. The bleeding is too severe to be healed in time to save her life."
Onyx eyes bore into the healer's hazel ones for a moment before Snape whispered in his silky voice, "Do it. I will cauterize the wound when you're done."
Minerva McGonagall had been watching while her co-workers tried to save Daphne's life. When she heard what was being discussed, she conjured privacy partitions and began herding the students out of the area.
Dumbledore entered the Great Hall in time to see Minerva conjure privacy screens around Madam Pomfrey, Severus Snape, and what he presumed was an injured student. Taking in the destruction around him, his gaze fell upon a trussed up, and stunned, Draco Malfoy.
He noticed Harry Potter hugging his girlfriend, Miss Granger, to him as they stared at the spectacle in front of them. Dumbledore knew that Harry was involved in this somehow. No one in the school was able to aggravate Mr. Malfoy to the extent that Harry could.
Walking over to the stunned form of Draco Malfoy, he peered intently down at the young man. He was so lost in thought that he almost missed Harry Potter stepping up to him. Turning his ancient gaze to the young Gryffindor, he asked, "What happened here, Mr. Potter?"
Harry looked up into the troubled blue eyes of the headmaster and pushed the memory of the encounter to the surface of his thoughts. Shielding the rest of his mind, Harry calmly said, "Take a peak, sir. I will push the memory to you."
Dumbledore was shocked; this was the first time that Harry acknowledged that he knew that he was a Master Legilimens. Carefully, he said, "Thank you, Mr. Potter." He slowly pushed out his mental probe towards the young man's mind. When he made the connection, Harry began feeding him the memory of the event.
After a few seconds, the memory ended, and Dumbledore found himself back in his own mind without realizing that he had been pushed out of Mr. Potters. Deciding to deal with that nugget of information later, he turned his focus to the events that transpired between Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy.
With a casual wave of his wand, Dumbledore summoned Draco's wand to him and placed it in his robe pocket. Looking at his Deputy Headmistress, he beckoned her over to them. When she arrived, his voice sounded tired but determined, "Minerva, please contact Amelia Bones and inform her that we have a situation that requires her presence." He paused a moment, then added, "Do not tell her who the culprit is until she is here. It is important that we take care of this before word gets to Lucius."
Minerva nodded once and headed off to make a floo call in the antechamber off the Great Hall.
Harry understood what Dumbledore was aiming for; Lucius Malfoy had Fudge in his back pocket and would do everything in his power to get his son off without facing charges. Quietly, Harry asked the headmaster, "Do you think that Draco deserves that second chance now, sir? That curse would have killed me had it connected. Instead, he very nearly killed a dozen students." Finished making his point, he walked away leaving a frustrated Albus Dumbledore behind pondering where Draco Malfoy had gone so wrong.
When Amelia stepped through the floo into Hogwarts, she knew that something terrible had happened. Looking up at her longtime friend, she asked, "How bad is it, Minerva?"
Minerva McGonagall pursed her lips in frustration and practically hissed, "It's very bad. Draco Malfoy very nearly killed a dozen students from his own house. Daphne Greengrass is the most seriously injured." Seeing Amelia's monocle fall out of her eye in shock, she pushed on, "Miss Greengrass is going to loose her right arm and she will have multiple scars adorning her body and face if she survives."
Madam Bones almost gasped when she heard the details from the Deputy Headmistress. Steeling herself for the worst, she put on a calm mask and said, "Please take me to the scene of the crime."
When they entered the Great Hall, the first thing that the Director of Magical Law Enforcement noticed was the partitions surrounding what she presumed to be Miss Greengrass and the school medi-witch. Spying Dumbledore standing in the middle of the hall next to an unconscious and bound Draco Malfoy, she made her way over to him.
Albus Dumbledore felt every one of his one hundred and fifty two years as he took in the situation. Draco Malfoy was about to be hauled off to the Ministry for his careless assault, Daphne Greengrass would be lucky if she survived, or unlucky depending upon how one looked at things, and Harry Potter had just cast some serious doubts upon one of Albus' oldest beliefs.
Releasing a sigh, Dumbledore turned to Madam Bones and said, "Thank you for coming so quickly." He withdrew Draco's wand from his pocket and presented it to her, "Here is Mr. Malfoy's wand. Mr. Potter witnessed the entire incident from a unique perspective. The curse Mr. Malfoy fired was meant for Mr. Potter but he dodged it and it struck the Slytherin House Table instead."
Amelia looked over at the destruction Draco Malfoy's spell had caused. She knew that the curse would have been fatal had it actually struck Mr. Potter. Not glancing away from the destruction, she said in a clipped tone, "Where is Mr. Potter now?" Adding the additional charge of attempted murder to the list would really help her case against the Malfoy heir. Because The-Boy-Who-Lived was the target, that would go a long way in seeing that Draco Malfoy stood trial.
Albus gestured to their left while saying, "He is with his friends over by the entrance. I have already spoken with him about what happened here. Do you wish to speak with him now or will you take a statement from him later?"
Madam Bones really wanted to speak with Harry Potter now but she knew that the longer she delayed in taking Mr. Malfoy into custody, the more likely it was that she would have to deal with Fudge and Lucius upon her return. Sighing, she said, "No, I will interview him later. I need to get Draco Malfoy to the Ministry and processed as quickly as possible. Your rendition of events is good enough for now."
Somberly, Dumbledore said, "Very well. I will inform Mr. Potter that you will be contacting him at his relative's house soon for an interview."
Amelia didn't let the shock show on her face at Dumbledore's statement. She knew that Mr. Potter no longer resided with his muggle relatives and that he had new guardians. She decided against correcting his assumption, but she would mention it when she was eventually able to speak to Mr. Potter. Too many things didn't add up around the young man and she was curious to see what was really going on, not what the press or Albus Dumbledore reported.
Stepping over to the unconscious Draco Malfoy, Amelia pulled out two pair of enchanted manacles that could only be taken off by an Auror. She slapped them on his wrists and ankles before vanishing the ropes and waking him up with a quick flick of her wrist.
Draco looked around in momentary confusion before the details of what he had done came rushing back to him. He blanched when he realized that he was cuffed and sitting on the ground in front of the head of the Auror Department. He almost shuddered when he saw the cold, calculating, look that she was giving him. Instead, his arrogance won out and he drawled, "When my father…"
"Shut your mouth, you foolish child." Amelia's harsh tone of voice cut across him, "Your father isn't going to be able to save you from your own arrogance. Attempted murder is a very serious charge, not to mention the fact that Miss Greengrass may not survive, and you also injured a score of your own housemates."
Seeing the young man pale at the mention of almost killing Miss Greengrass, Madam Bones continued talking loudly, making sure that everyone could hear what was going on, "You have just caused all sorts of trouble for your father. Many of his business associates' children were just injured by you."
Draco's skin color was now an ashen green as he started to think through what he had done and what his father was going to do to him when they returned to the manor. It never occurred to him that his father might not be able to get him released. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't realize that the headmaster had joined them.
Albus Dumbledore looked down at the young man trussed up on the floor of the Great Hall and sighed. His voice was laced with regret when he spoke in a clear voice that carried across the entire Great Hall with ease, "Draco Malfoy, you are hereby expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You wand has been turned over to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as evidence of your crimes. I shall inform your parents that they may come and pick up your effects."
Too stunned to speak, Draco just sat there on the floor looking like a fish out of water after he was expelled.
Whispered conversations broke out all over the Great Hall as Dumbledore's announcement began to sink in. Some students were openly pointing at the disgraced boy while others continued talking amongst themselves about the events that they had just witnessed. The majority of the school was silently milling about in shock while the professors valiantly worked on their injured classmates.
Amelia reached down and hauled the prisoner to his feet. Turning to face Albus, she quietly asked, "Would you please make a Portkey to my office? I don't want anyone seeing me bring him in."
Only the Headmaster of Hogwarts could make a Portkey that could penetrate the wards of the castle. As everyone discovered at the end of the Third Task, anyone could make a Portkey to penetrate the grounds but that was something that the teachers were trying to rectify.
Dumbledore reached over, grabbed an empty goblet off the table, and tapped it with his wand. It glowed blue for a moment before he handed it to Amelia. Solemnly, he said, "Just tap it with your wand to activate it. It's a one way Portkey." He knew that the reverberations from today's events would echo for months, perhaps years.
Unwittingly, Draco Malfoy had just struck a major blow against Voldemort. Eight of the injured children were from the ranks of the Death Eaters and they were going to want retribution in some fashion.
Amelia touched the Portkey to Draco's hand and then activated it with a tap of her wand.
They vanished in a swirl of light and colors from the Great Hall, cementing Draco's Malfoy's Legacy in the lore of Hogwarts.
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