Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) 33rd Chapter ( Chapter 33 )

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 33 - Arrivals

At precisely ten in the morning on the promised day, the door to Jeannette's Robes Shop for the Fashionable Witch and Wizard opened to admit one of the most handsome persons that the shop owner had ever seen in her life. Madame Jeannette had just finished counterchecking the instructions that her assistants would follow for the day, and when the door opened, she closed the appointment book and grabbed the travel cloak that was laying on the counter next to her.

"I presume you are the one meant to collect me?" She asked as she looked the man over. His clothes were several seasons out of fashion, but they fit him so beautifully that the artist in her was hard pressed not to push him towards the changing rooms and force him into something from her new collection. He certainly had the body and poise to pull off any of her most elaborate designs.

As if he knew what the she was thinking, Slater smiled at the woman and spoke in answer to her question. "Yes, I am. Mr Malfoy asked me to collect you at exactly  ten a.m. You may call me Slater." He said and extended his hand for her to shake.
"Are you ready to leave?" He asked, once they had gotten the pleasantries out of the way.
"I am." The elegant woman answered and looked at the man expectantly.
She knew neither her destination nor the mode of travel they would use, so she was relying on her escort to take the lead.
"Let's get going then." The vampire said, and began walking outside expecting the older woman to follow, which she did.

Once they were one meter or so away from the door of the shop, Slater offered his arm to Madame Jeannette who took it as she realised that they would be apparating to wherever she was supposed to go. It was not uncommon for her clients to want her to visit their homes, but this was the first time that she was allowing a stranger to transport her to a location that she did not know beforehand. Once Madame Jeannette's arm was on Slater's arm, he turned on the spot, and in a moment, they reappeared in-front of one of the most majestic and imposing gates she had ever seen which was saying something since she had been to many of the aristocratic homes in England.

The gate itself was made of simple bars of metal which were painted black, but the design etched at the very centre was soo intricate and detailed that Madame Jeannette immediately knew that it must have been done by either a goblin or a dwarf. The design was a single majestic dragon whose wings and body were spread out to make a sort of M, and she almost stepped back in fear because the creature seemed to come to life the closer they got to it.

"Don't worry; he won't attack guests." Slater said, but his reassurance did not do anything to extinguish Jeannette's nerves. Animating statues, paintings and other pieces of art was not uncommon in the wizarding world, but people generally stayed away from dragons, basilisks and some other such creatures because they tended to be unpredictable and uncontrollable.

"May I know where I am?" She asked, as she stared at the crest design. The design on the gate was somewhat similar to the Malfoy crest, but it was not the same which made Jeannette realize that she had not been brought to the Malfoy Estate as she had half expected.
"This is the residence of one Draco Malfoy." Slater informed her as he placed his hand on the gate, which shimmered momentarily before creating an opening for them to pass through.

In all honesty, Madame Jeannette was shocked, but she did not allow the shock to register on her features. The Malfoy family's goblin account manager had contacted her to close the young heir's account in her shop the moment his marriage to Harry Potter had become public knowledge. However, since Draco Malfoy had neither stopped his purchases nor defaulted on any payments, Jeannette had assumed that he had some galleons saved up, but the first sight of the humongous estate made her think that maybe it was more than just savings. The grounds were beautifully designed and maintained, and the castle that stood at the end of the long driveway stole her breath away. The building was entirely done in cream except for the roof which was made of what appeared to be red bricks. The most impressive part of it though was the many turrets that rose up high into the sky and the gigantic sculpture of a dragon that stood majestically on the peak of the tallest one. By whatever magic, she could see the dragon circle the peak now and then as if it was keeping an eye on the entire estate.

Slater smiled when he saw her reaction but said nothing about it. Everybody reacted the same way at their first sight of the castle but either way, it never ceased to impress no matter how many times you saw it. They walked in silence as Jeannette took in the sights and even she who was disinclined to live outside the city was charmed. The place was beautiful, and it seemed so removed from the world outside that she was almost convinced that time moved at a slower pace within the grounds than it did outside. Faster than she would have liked, they arrived at the huge oak doors that guarded the castle, and a house-elf opened the doors which was fortunate because Jeannette could not see any discernible knocker.

"Noku is to be taking your cloaks." The elf said, and Madame Jeannette handed over her travelling cloak while Slater retained his implying that he did not plan to go within the castle at that precise moment.

"Noku, lead Madame Jeannette to where they are waiting." Slater told the elf when he returned from storing the cloak. "Tell your master that I am expecting more arrivals within the day."

The elf bowed deeply to both Slater and Madame Jeannette; and began leading the way to where he knew his master and the other guests were waiting. Jeannette followed the elf, occasionally stopping to admire the artwork displayed along the hallways but she did not allow herself to linger for long because she was curious to find out who the mysterious guests she would be clothing were. After walking for about five minutes, they came to a stop in front of a door which opened to a wide parlour where several people were already seated. She recognised young Draco Malfoy from the get go and almost did a double take when she recognised one of the other occupants of the room.

'Is that Lady Edna Berkley?' She thought excitedly, and only her good manners prevented her from gaping in both shock and excitement.
"Madame Jeannette, thank you for coming." Draco said, a knowing smile on his lips; when he noticed the lady's pretty well-hidden reaction to those whom she found herself in the company of.
"How could I refuse when my best customer calls?" Jeannette said, and she was not exaggerating. The young Malfoy was one of her best customers; and the one that was proving to be the most interesting.

"This is Edwin Berkley, and I'm guessing you already know Edna Berkley?" Draco continued, once the elf had left after delivering Slater's message to Draco.
"I indeed know Lady Berkley, and that must be young lord Berkley." She answered stoically to which Draco nodded with another smile.
"Then I do not need to tell you what I need from you." Draco stated.

"You don't." Jeannette answered proudly.

She had no idea what Draco Malfoy was planning, but she knew who the Berkleys had been. Jeannette had only been an apprentice when they fell from grace, but everyone desired the Berkleys business back then. Edna Berkley was a beautiful woman and looking at her now; she still had the poise of a lady who expected only the best. Young lord Edwin Berkley was handsome himself, and he had all the makings to be a powerful lord. As she looked at them, Madame Jeannette remembered something she had read in the prophet awhile back. Draco Malfoy had started what he called a Grey Faction, and although she had not given much thought to what that meant back then, she did now. Whatever young Malfoy was planning would be huge and she would be right in the middle of it. She was very thankful for her insight to keep young Draco's business even when his name had been so badly tarnished by the Prophet. She had lost some clients from that decision, but who cares when things were about to become so much more interesting?

"Spare no expense." Draco said, and Jeannette almost grinned at those magic words. Those were words she always loved to hear, and she would follow them to the letter.
"I will get to work then." She said, and Draco nodded before turning to the Berkeleys.
"I have to get back to work now." He said. "Madame Jeannette has my full confidence. She should be able to provide everything you will need for a comeback. Don't hesitate to ask for anything."
"Thank you, Draco." Edwin said. He had only spent a short time with the young blonde, but he had become very fond of him; and it showed in the genuine smile he directed at the young man.
"Don't mention it." Draco dismissed with a smile of his own, before he left the parlour.

He and Severus were still running tests in the huge potions lab that was located just a floor above the dungeons of Dragon castle, and everything was going even better than he had expected. Wanting to be ready to present his findings to the members of The Grey Faction who would be meeting the following night, Draco and Severus worked all day and did not break until an elf came to inform them that Slater was waiting in the living room to speak to Draco.

It was already approaching dinner time by then, so Draco and Severus cleaned up their work areas; and made sure that everything was well preserved, before they left the lab for the living room which was one floor up. It took only a few minutes to arrive at the room, and Draco was surprised to find Slater with his entire clan waiting for him, having forgotten the message that Noku had delivered earlier in the day. This was the first time that Draco was meeting the entire vampire clan, because they had insisted upon waiting for their kin who were in China before a formal introduction was made.

"May I present my clan to you Mr Malfoy?" Slater asked formally, and when Draco nodded, the man proceeded to do just that. Each vampire gave a deep formal bow to Draco as Slater called their name, and Draco could not help but be humbled by the gesture; which he returned without reservation to each of the vampires.

"As you may have guessed, our compatriots have returned from the expedition in Mt Huashan." Slater continued once the introductions were done, and four of the vampires stepped forward.

"I trust you did not encounter many difficulties?" Draco asked as he looked directly at the four.
"Not at all." A young lady who seemed to be the youngest of the lot answered, and the others snorted in amusement.
"Merlin knows how she survived walking with her eyes closed the entire time we climbed Mt Huashan." One of the others said, and Draco had to laugh then.
"Shall we have dinner as you tell us all about the trip." Draco asked, and when he saw them nod, he led the way to the dining room.

In the dining room, they found the Berkeleys about to take their places and Draco was pleased to see that they were already decked out in new clothes that Madame Jeannette must have had ready to wear. Their hair, nails, skin and clothes were impeccable. Looking at them, no one could have guessed at the deplorable conditions they had been living in, before returning to the Wizarding World. He introduced them to the vampires, and when that was done, they all took their seats along the formal dining table which was the size of a Hogwarts house table.

"Were you successful in your quest?" Draco directed this to the vampires once everyone had food and drinks in front of them. The vampires could not eat regular food so, in place of food, the elves had presented them with goblets of wine which Draco had found out they were partial to.

"Yes." One of the four vampires who had gone on the expedition answered. He had been introduced as Ikta, and since he appeared to be the leader of the group, Draco focused his attention on him. "The climb up and down was the difficult part, but we managed with no problems. The chilling grass itself was plentiful, and we carried a lot in the bottomless bag we had."

"That's good." Draco said; pleased with their success.

"We have prepared the land as instructed and we will be able to plant the grass tomorrow in the special greenhouse." One of the others, Baek, she was called, added on.

It would take a while for the grass to take to the new environment despite the care they had taken to create a special greenhouse that paralleled the atmosphere in Mt Huashan, but Draco was confident that it would eventually grow as it was supposed to. For the moment, he planned to use some of the chilling grass to try and see if he could make the potion as he had conceptualised it.

"It will take a little over a month for the temporary potion you took to leave your systems. Hopefully, in that time, I will have managed to create the permanent version of it." The others nodded in agreement and seeing the hope in the vampires' eyes, Draco knew that he could not disappointment them no matter what.

"Are you adjusting to life here?" He asked conversationally to break the silence that had fallen over the table as everyone contemplated what would happen next. It seemed to be the right thing to ask because they all began excitedly retelling stories of what had happened since they moved into Dragon Castle.

After that, dinner was an enjoyable and light affair, and they all talked like old friends who had known each other all their life. It was ironic that Draco was the one to put everyone at ease when his whole upbringing centred around intimidating and making people uncomfortable.

As Draco interacted with the vampires, the human wizards present and Slater watched with pride. The boy was a natural born leader, someone who did not demand loyalty and yet people gave it to him willingly. They all had a deep respect for him, but they could still talk to him like he was their equal. Edwin remembered Draco saying that Harry Potter gave hope to the Wizarding World, but Edwin thought that Draco was so much more, because he gave them hope of what could be, and showed them the way to get there. He could not have asked for a better person to follow.

With Draco gone, Harry was spending a lot of his time in the Gryffindor Tower. It's not like he particularly wanted to be there, but he had no excuse to stay away now that he did not have to 'keep an eye' on Malfoy. The only thing he could be grateful for was that not many people usually went home for the Easter Holidays, so he had more than Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to talk to. Currently, they were all seated in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione had her nose in a book whose title Harry couldn't make out in the dim light.

Ron was attempting to play chess by himself, something he had been trying to do since he lost at Christmas and heard that Malfoy made a habit of it. Ginny was sitting on Harry's lap making his legs go numb and Dean toss him dirty looks when he thought that Harry wasn't paying attention. Seamus and Neville were just there, and Harry was grateful for their company; because they were the only ones that he could still talk to without feeling as if he was walking on eggshells.

"Neville, you didn't want to spend the Easter Holidays with your mum and dad?" Harry asked.

The timid boy that everyone had known since their first year had become more confident and mellow since his parents left St Mungos and Harry couldn't have been happier for him. He seemed to have a stronger sense of self that was evident in the way he interacted with everyone else, and he was now more inclined to fight back rather than allow anyone to bully him like had become the norm over the years.

"I would have liked to, but my school work still hasn't recovered from the month I spent away from Hogwarts when they left the hospital." Neville answered. "Exams are approaching fast, and since I will spend the summer holidays with them, I don't mind staying back this time."

"Oh, they are doing fine though?"
"Better than fine." Neville admitted with a smile.
"That's good to hear." Harry said, and he was truly happy for Neville.

Neville could have been The Boy Who Lived, and although not in the same way, they had both lost their parents during that dreadful time. Harry was glad that at least one of them would be able to experience the parents' love that should have been theirs since their birth.

"Do you know where Malfoy went Harry?" Seamus asked out of the blue and Harry internally cursed the Irish boy for his awful timing. There had been some sort of non-verbalized agreement that no one would talk about Malfoy, but Seamus must not have gotten the memo. Trust Seamus to always stick his foot in it!

"No one knows Seamus." Harry said abruptly hoping to end that line of discussion as soon as possible. He may have decided to pretend to be following Dumbledore's wishes, but he did not think he could sit around quietly if the Gryffindors began insulting Draco like they were often prone to do. "He has a house somewhere, but it must be under some very powerful spells since even Dumbledore can't locate it."

Harry didn't say that even he had tried using his considerable elemental magic to locate it and failed. He had attempted to track Draco using his magical signature, but every time he got close to the goal, something would deter him, and Harry would find himself withdrawing his magic from the search instead of pushing through. He had no idea if this phenomenon was caused by some sort of spell or something else, but it had happened every time he tried to locate Draco's house.

The weird thing was that although he missed Draco terribly, he did not feel disappointed or anxious every time he failed to track him. He had always been the curious type, but he somehow felt that forcing his way into Draco's secrets would cause more harm than good, so he willed himself to be patient.

"I bet You-Know-Who is the one cloaking his house in magic." Ron said scathingly, and Harry was surprised that he had even been listening. Harry didn't want to get into a discussion about Draco because he knew he would lose his temper and say something regrettable, so he kept his mouth shut.

He could have kissed Neville when the boy changed the subject to the charms assignment professor Flitwick had given them to do over the break. As Harry half-listened to the inane chatter going on around him, he allowed his mind to wander to everything else that was happening. His training with Dumbledore had resumed, and not only was he was getting better at hiding his magic from prying eyes, but his control over his elemental magic was getting better. Soon he would be able to start learning the basics of air and earth magic.

Harry knew that he was progressing at a faster than normal pace, and he knew it was all because of his need to be with Draco. He wanted all of Draco. He wanted every smile, every tear, every horrible joke, every sneer, every smirk, every smartass comment; he wanted everything. He wanted a future where he woke up with Draco in his arms every day, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt the need to act which was what made him stand up abruptly and bid the Gryffindors goodbye.

Harry made his escape quickly before his 'friends' could begin to argue and headed straight to the Room of Requirement where he requested the training room that he had become accustomed to using lately. He needed to become stronger. Stronger than anyone so that no one would be able to take Draco from him.

Uploader's Note: This Has Been A Backup Upload of Chapter 33 of Behind the Fog by Hancock23.