Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) 4th Chapter ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Anything you recognize is property of JK Rowling. Additionally this is not my story. I am uploading this to my own account in support of the author the story belongs to who has been struggling with hackers.

The thing I've most been dreading as a fan is that the story would be removed from the site by the hackers and the author wouldn't have access to their old chapters when the situation was eventually brought under control in the event the site moderators wouldn't be able to give the author their account back.

For anyone interested the author goes by Hancock23 on Fanfiction -dot- net. I will remove the story from my account when Hancock23 has gotten the story safely uploaded elsewhere or has been safely given their account back on Fanfiction -dot- net. Without further ado I give you a backup upload of: Behind the Fog by Hancock23.

PS: This Backup Upload contains minor edits for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Plus some rewording/restructuring of sentences so they make better sense and flow better. Hope you don't mind me becoming something of a Beta Reader for this Backup Upload Hancock23.

Chapter Four - Visitors

Malfoy was gone by the time Harry woke up. Apart from his belongings in the various rooms, his presence there could barely be felt. The only evidence remaining to prove to Harry that he had not imagined the whole bonding business was the slight apple and vanilla scent that still lingered in the bathroom after Malfoy's shower. It was seven in the morning and he quickly took a shower before heading to the Great Hall to meet his friends and invite them over to his new place. His former roommates and Ginny were already at the table and he walked quickly towards them.

"Harry, how are you?" Hermione asked, and quickly scanned him for injuries. He had none.

"Fine I suppose." He said, as he took his seat and piled some pancakes on his plate. "I missed you guys."

He had really. They might be in the same school, but it was not the same waking up to a quiet room, when he was used to waking up to Ron's morning grumbles, and Hermione's shouts to hurry up, among other smaller noises that reminded him he was not alone in the world. That had been absent this morning.

"Did the git give you a hard time?" Ron asked expectantly, but Harry frowned in concentration.

"Surprisingly, no. We set Rules of Coexistence and then I went to sleep." He explained and the others looked at him in disbelief.

He couldn't blame them, as he himself did not understand what was up with Malfoy. He turned to look at the Slytherin as he sipped his morning coffee, and listened attentively to something Parkinson was saying. "The three months might actually be tolerable."

"What do you mean Harry?" Ginny asked, with her arm in the groove of his, and Harry smiled. Ginny was so warm and pretty. He couldn't imagine being with anyone other than her for the rest of his life.

"We set up rules, you will see when we go to my room." Harry said. "He sleeps three hours a night and is gone by the time I wake up, it's better than I could have hoped for."

"Too good if you ask me." Ron said suspiciously. "He is probably plotting something. There is no way he would pass up this chance to make your life miserable."

"I agree with Ron, Harry." Hermione said. "You have to be careful."

"I know." He answered and he did know.

"I won't let my guard down. Don't worry." He sent a scathing look at the Slytherin who was still talking to Parkinson, before he returned to his conversation with his friends. The Weasleys had stayed in the castle and they would all meet after breakfast to spend the rest of the day in Harry's rooms.

It was almost nine in the morning when the group finally finished their breakfast. The rest of the Weasleys, Lupin, and Black were waiting in a small alcove off the Great Hall, and they exchanged warm greetings before heading to the East tower.

Harry showed them the rules by the door, even though he had rolled his eyes when he first saw them that morning, before they headed upstairs.

"These are great rooms Harry!" Molly Weasley exclaimed in admiration and the others agreed as they moved from room to room checking everything out.

There was an awkward moment when Hermione and Ron wanted to break the rules so that Hermione could examine the books on Malfoy's side, and Ron wanted to check out the chess sets, but Arthur put a quick stop to their mischief. Harry had been all for it thinking that Malfoy would never need to know, but he was later grateful that Arthur had stopped it. It would not bode well for him if Malfoy somehow found out and decided to reciprocate in the same manner; Harry had no desire for Malfoy to be pawing over his things.

They talked and had fun. At some point, Ron went to Gryffindor tower to retrieve his chess set and a pack of exploding snap, and they were all playing and cheering when the door to the room opened to admit Malfoy and his solicitor. The mood in the room soured but Malfoy just sailed past without a word to, or a glance at anyone.

"Good afternoon." The solicitor said politely, but she also did not stop to exchange more than that general greeting.

"You really have a library in your room?" They heard her say, and Malfoy turned to smile at her.

"Please Marina, this is nothing." He said proudly. "The whole thing doesn't fit so I have had to compress it. Go to one section and point your wand and say 'expand'." She did as she was told and she was not the only person in the room whose jaw dropped to the ground.

Each compressed section counted more thousands of books, and Hermione and Remus could barely control themselves. "I don't have much on law, but we should be able to find what we are looking for here." He said.

"Compress." The section that had earlier been expanded went back to its original size, and Draco moved across until he came to a section on the lower part on his right side.

"Expand." The section expanded, and Marina immediately began to grab law volumes she had never ever come across.

"Maybe we should eat before we continue with our research." He suggested and she agreed putting the books back in place. They took their places on the couch.

"Biddy." Draco called, and a small elf appeared. Her eyes were so round and happy.

"What is Biddy doing for Master Draco?" She asked eagerly.

"Some lunch for me and Marina Biddy." Draco said.

"Of course Master Draco Sir; Biddy is making your favourite." Before he could say that would take too long, she was gone; Draco sighed.

"That should take a while." He explained to Marina when she inquired about his sigh.

"How about a game before lunch?" She said pointing to the chess boards, and Draco's eyes widened in pleasure.

"Good idea, I will get a board." He said, and started to get up.

"What about those ones?" She asked in confusion, nodding to his games in progress boards.

"I am in the midst of games on both of those, I don't want to disrupt my thought process." He did not see her frown as he left the room, only to return with another set a few minutes later.

"What a beauty!" Marina gushed when he had finished laying it down. It was made of mother of pearl and the pieces had emerald eyes. It was truly a beautiful set.

"Pansy gave this one to me for my birthday a few years back." He explained. "White or black?"

"I will go first." She said, and then moved the king's pawn. The game was over in a mere ten minutes.

"How did this happen? I am fairly good in chess." She complained and he laughed.

"You are actually." He told her agreeingly.

"There is a reason no one likes playing with me though." He said arrogantly.

"I demand a rematch." She insisted.

"Alright. How about a handicap?" Draco proposed.

"What are you suggesting?" Marina asked curiously.

"I will not use the queen and I will make every move within five seconds." There was a gasp from somewhere in the room, but they did not turn to see who made it.

A short while later and many more games played, Marina stared in shock as her young client checkmated her again. "I give." She said, and thankfully, their food arrived.

"Biddy, where in the world did you get passion fruit at this time of year?" Draco asked, noticing the halved passion fruits at the end of their lunch ensemble.

"Biddy is apparating to Kenya to get them for Master Draco." Biddy said cheerfully; Draco stared in shock.

"What about money Biddy?" He asked.

She lifted her chin proudly. "Biddy is asking Headmaster Dumblys for monies Master Draco." Draco could have laughed at the way the little elf butchered the headmaster's name, but this was serious.

"You asked the headmaster to give you money so that you can get me passion fruit from Africa?" He asked in utter bewilderment.

"No, Biddy is asking to be paid for her work." Draco's mouth did fall open at this point. "Why? Why Biddy? You could have asked me for the money to buy things you make for me."

The elf looked horrified. "Biddy would not dare. Would not dishonour herself by asking money from her Master Draco. Biddy is waiting for her Master Draco to have a house so that she can continue serving her master."

"You want to leave Hogwarts then?" He asked.

The elf nodded and looked at Draco hopefully. "Biddy is speaking with Headmaster Dumblys and asking him to free Biddy when Master Draco is leaving Hogwarts; so that Biddy can take care of her young Master Draco and his family for a long time."

"I see. From now on Biddy, you just bring the food in the kitchens when I ask." The elf looked like she was going to object. "You can make me all my favourites when I leave Hogwarts, yes?"

"Yes, Master Draco." The elf replied happily and vanished, but was back in a few minutes with a beautifully wrapped box.

"Biddy is getting this for Master Draco." She said and Draco opened the gift. It was a box of chocolates from Honeydukes.

"Thank you Biddy but these are expensive, didn't you need the money for yourself?"

"Biddy is not needing money. Biddy knows Master Draco likes those. Biddy is wanting to make Master Draco smile." She said practically scoffing at the idea of needing money for herself.

"Thank you Biddy, I will call if I need something." The elf disappeared again, and Draco smiled sorrowfully at the box of chocolates.

He blinked when he noticed that everyone on the other side of the room was looking at him, belatedly realising that he had not set up any privacy wards. With a series of complex wand movements, Marina and Draco disappeared from sight.

"What the hell was that?" Lupin asked in shock.

"Making a house elf go to another continent to get his food." Hermione spat in outrage.

"No, not that." Lupin said and without thinking, he sent a spell at the other side of the room but the spell disappeared before it even touched the ward.

"Interesting. I have never seen anything like it." Bill Weasley agreed. The Curse Breaker in him was in awe and greatly intrigued. He could see the runes making up the ward, and to say he was impressed was an understatement.

"It's probably dark magic he learnt from his father." Ron said with a shrug.

"I can assure you that is not dark magic." Bill refuted, still trying to decipher the ward. "This ward is virtually unbreakable. Every ward in existence has a hole somewhere that can be exploited to break it, but this is different; It can't be broken. We could bring Dumbledore and You-Know-Who, and they would spend a week going at it and it just wouldn't break."

"Is it really that strong?" Harry asked.

He knew nothing about wards, especially considering he didn't take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.

"Bill, if you can see the runes in the ward, then you can copy it for analysis." Hermione suggested, ready to reach for her quill and parchment.

"We can copy the sequence, true, but I doubt it will do us any good." Bill said shaking his head.

"Why is that?' Molly asked her son.

"I have seen all kinds of wards and runes, and yet I can only recognise a few in that sequence. We can copy, but without knowing what they are and how they interrelate, we can't recreate this ward. The best option is to ask Draco Malfoy." Bill answered.

"True, even the wand movement was not normal." Remus intoned, but with nothing further to add to the topic, everyone fell silent; and they went back to their games of exploding snap and chess.

Within the wards, Marina and Draco made quick work of their food before going back to work.

"I am satisfied with the structure of the business we have come up with." Draco said.

Instead of using an alias, Marina had suggested starting a corporation where Draco Malfoy was the sole owner and having the corporation own the patents they managed to register. The business would be registered in Switzerland where that country's Gringotts followed the laws of the country, ensuring anonymity of the company's ownership.

"Tomorrow, we can discuss staffing of the company and the procedures for registering the patents and acquiring clientele." Marina agreed; Excitement pumped in her veins. She had really hit a big one, Draco Malfoy was no ordinary teen.

He cancelled the wards he had put up, and was surprised to find Potter's guests still there. "I will go back to my room and organize my notes." Marina said, before starting for the door.

"Don't forget the charms." He called and she nodded before heading out. He was thinking of taking a shower, when a red-head accosted him. It was Bill Weasley and for all that he was a Weasley, Draco did not mind him.

"Can we talk for a moment?" The man asked, and although Draco really wanted that shower, he thought that it would do no harm to speak to the curse breaker.

"Sure." He said, and sat back down. "What is it?"

"It's about that ward you put up earlier." Bill said, without beating around the bush. He thought that Malfoy would appreciate directness and he was right, because the blonde smiled a bit before his face became serious again.

"What about it?" Draco asked.

"It wasn't normal." Bill said quietly, in a voice that did not carry.

"Were you the only one who noticed?" Draco asked.

"No, Remus also did." Bill replied.

"I see." Draco tilted his head in thought for a moment.

"Why do you want to know about it?" He asked.

Bill thought that was an odd question, but it somehow felt important. How he answered this question would determine whether he got an answer or not, so he opted for the truth.

"Honestly, I am just curious because I am a Curse Breaker. Curse Breakers are like thrill seekers. We like challenges and never in my life have I seen a ward that unbreakable. I want to study it." He answered.

"So you like studying complex things? Don't have to be wards?" Draco asked, Bill nodded.

"It's a new ward. Newly invented I mean." Draco said in a low voice. "The inventor has more where that came from, and he is hiring. Would you be interested?" Bill felt excitement in his blood, the kind he felt every time he came across a new curse, but this felt even better.

"What would I be doing?" Bill asked. Gringotts had become a bore lately with him stuck behind a desk doing a lot of paperwork, and all the odd hours with the Order did not help in the least.

Draco stood up and leant in to whisper in his ear. "One flight below the owlery, there is a slightly bent stone on the 11th step. Push it and say, 'Perseus' -  Enter the room quickly and make sure you are not seen. I will introduce you to the inventor at half past six tomorrow morning. Don't say anything to anybody. I promise no harm will come to you, but for a number of reasons, this project is rather delicate. Lie when they ask you what we have been whispering about. Are we in agreement?" Draco stood back  and looked Bill straight in the eye, and the other man nodded.

"Feel free to look through my book collection Mr Weasley, but don't take anything without asking me." Draco said loudly so that the others could hear. "I am off to take a shower if it is all the same to you."

Uploader's Note: This Has Been A Backup Uplaod of Chapter 4 of Behind the Fog by Hancock23.