Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Oath Breaker ❯ Oath Breakers ( Chapter 16 )

Part 16

For the next several days, Draco and Harry cloistered themselves in the flooded shower room, hiding from the world and the war. Draco shed a few inches of his skin every day, dragging himself from stall to stall as he grew embarrassed by the skin floating on the water. Harry dutifully followed him, unable to carry him while his newly revealed scales ached at the slightest touch. He consoled himself that at least the Gryffindor was something soft for him to lean on. After one rather painful move where Draco tried to keep the newly shed front of his tail off the stone, he flopped gratefully onto Harry's legs and refused to move again.

"How often do you have to change?" Harry asked.

Half-drowsing in the hot water, Draco cracked one eye for a moment before sinking back into Harry's lap. He didn't mind the questions so much anymore. It gave them something to talk about since neither wanted to bring up the war.

"Once every five or six years," he answered. "For a week."

"And your father has to change too, right?

"He goes through this every year," Draco said. "It only takes him about two or three days, though."

"Why's it different?"

"It's different for all of us. Some of my ancestors had to change every month. I'm pretty lucky, actually. Poor Melusine had it worst."

"Who?"

"Oh, well, if you never heard of Mordred then you certainly never heard of her. She's only in a few books now. I don't think the muggles even remember her, though she was rather famous in her time." He shifted positions, pillowing his head on Harry's stomach. "Melusine du'Malfoi. She was a queen for awhile. She had to change every Sunday, though, and her muggle husband broke his promise and spied on her."

"Wait, a Malfoy married a muggle?"

"We all make mistakes," Draco said testily. "Besides, she ran away when he accused her of being a witch. Of course he was right, she was a witch, but it really hurt her that he'd broken his promise. Anyway, he killed their children, she flew away, and no Malfoy's married a muggle ever since."

"He killed their children?" Harry whispered.

"Makes sense," Draco said. "They were all going to turn into wyverns some day. Well, actually, we don't know for sure that he killed them. They might have turned unexpectedly and frozen to death without their mother to take care of them. Anyway, they were just mu---half-bloods."

He tensed, wondering if Harry would hit him for that near slip. After a few seconds, though, he thought he was away with it and relaxed. "Doesn't matter. In the end, Melusine came back and killed him, too."

Harry opened his mouth to ask something, then stopped and closed it again. For awhile he stroked Draco's hair, considering his question before he asked. "What started the war?"

Several seconds went by as Draco first wondered why Harry even cared, but then he frowned. He'd always known, either from reading in his father's library or remembering his dying ancestors, that the war had already raged to a boiling point when Mordred and Morgan had their battle against Camelot. His entire community focused so much on a new dark lord, heir to Mordred's greatness and Morgan's wisdom, that they rarely spoke about the years before the war. In the slow decline of the age of the old gods, was there a spark that suddenly ignited the hatred between the light and dark?

"Draco--?"

"Hush, I'm thinking." Dreams of dreams of dreams, that was all he could remember. Like copies of copies, some dreams faded from his bloodline until they were only remembered in brief flashes as another more recent ancestor died. There was a time the Malfoys knew their gods' faces, saw them every year and drew power from them. As time passed and the old powers left the world, they slowly forgot their faces and only remembered their shapes, the antler horns, the green skin, gold eyes. Old promises and rituals faded into whispers and nothingness. After centuries of service, the dark wizards were ignored and betrayed by their masters. And where were the light wizards, if not laughing on the edges of the darkness? Hadn't they always been there, laughing in the sunlight?

Oath breakers, the light wizards called them. They had certainly broken thousands of promises in the past. By now, they took a perverse pleasure in flaunting that title, mocking it amongst themselves and on the rare occasions they openly crossed paths with light wizards. Strange that he hadn't thought of it until now, but as he thought about it, a vague sense of understanding followed. He did know what had originally started the war. Locked in his ancestral memories, he'd always known. He, and through him his family, had simply not brought it to mind in centuries.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to remember back through the ages, not allowing the accompanying screams to distract him. As Mariana Malfoy died bound to a burning stake five hundred years ago, she gave him a brief glimpse of her ancestors bleeding in their fields. Eason Malfoy fell from a muggle's knife to his back, and he couldn't help remembering the flint knives they'd used to give offerings to the earth. And as young Fabienne du'Malfoi crept through a field of wheat while his older brother, the last of his family, bought him time to escape the human mob with his life, he remembered what lights wizards did in those very fields.

"That's right..." Draco whispered as the thought came to him. "I remember now. It's been so long since I thought of it."

"You remember what started the war?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Draco said. "We broke an oath."

"All this fighting over a broken promise?" Harry snorted. "That's insane."

"Depends on the promise, doesn't it? Do you know what light wizards used to do when there wasn't any rain?"

"What do you mean? Like a drought?"

"Exactly. Few of us raised our own crops or animals. We had to rely on the muggles to raise it for us."

"I though dark wizards didn't deal with muggles."

"We didn't. Light wizards certainly did, trading charms for food. We, however, had to steal ours."

"Just because you didn't want to deal with them?"

"We didn't have much of a choice," Draco said. "Remember, this was a very long time ago, well before written history. Imagine two different kinds of wizards, ones who lived beside you, protected you from invaders, helped your women in childbirth. And ones who lived deep in the forest with the wolves and crows, who frightened you away from certain parts of the land or even killed you if you came too close, and who occasionally turned into animals. Who would you rather sell to?"

"The dark wizards were chasing them away from the older gods, right?"

Draco nodded once. "Yes. The places where they crossed into our world, their enchanted castles and cursed pools. We probably saved as many of them as the light wizards did, even if we didn't like them. Muggles are so stupid when it comes to staying away from hag's dens or other dangerous spots. Anyway, that's how our night rides started. Stealing food."

"Is that the broken oath? No stealing?"

"No," Draco said. "This oath was far more important. Remember, this was before the Ministry, before Merlin. Your kind wasn't so hell-bent on protecting muggles. They still held themselves above them. We were all still mostly pureblood. It was all right if we killed a muggle here or there, as long as we didn't kill another wizard."

"I don't remember everything. There was a terrible drought, no rain for years. At first your kind tried to bring water from nearby rivers, and when the rivers started drying, they tried to dowse for new sources underground. Finally all they could do was...Potter, do you know how your kind used to coax the crops into growing? I think muggles still do it today, a little."

"No, what?"

"They copulate like rabbits on the ground. You don't see it often anymore, but it was quite popular even just a couple hundred years ago. During the drought, it was their last resort. Can you imagine it, wizards and witches desperately rutting like animals in a dusty field? So dignified."

"But the dark wizards didn't do it?" Harry asked, not rising to Draco's taunt.

"Of course not. We knew spilling our seed on the earth wouldn't do anything. Our strongest spells always relied on one source, blood."

The silence hung as he paused. Even now, what they had done felt monumental, as if the powerful dark magic they cast still lingered in his soul, impossible to cleanse from himself.

"Draco?"

"I think," Draco said softly, "it was when the forests started dying that we stopped waiting for your kind to bring the rain. We knew what to do, but there was an agreement between us and you. Muggle blood is good for some spells, but for something powerful, you need pure blood. One night we rode out on our brooms, brought a witch to the fields, and we..."

"You killed her," Harry said. It wasn't a question.

"We didn't just kill her," Draco said. His voice sounded far away, as if remembering something he had done and not just recalling a distant familial memory. "We went into a frenzy. It was like we knew what we were doing would change everything. It wouldn't just call the rain, it would irrevocably separate us from you. And so it had to be worthy of such a separation. We didn't use wands, we used knives, little knives we use for cutting potion ingredients. We cut her throat first, then her wrists. We tore her apart and scattered her across the field. We offered her blood to the earth. The whole time, we never made a sound."

"That was the broken oath," Harry said. "You killed a witch."

"We killed her as a spell. We used her sacrifice to fuel our magic. The clouds gathered over us with the first drop of blood, and before we had finished, the first thunderstorm in years raged over our heads. With the drought ended, it was convenient for muggles and light wizards alike to condemn us forever."

"Can you blame them?" Harry's tone clearly said that he thought 'rutting like animals' was a better solution. You killed one of them--"

"Harry," Draco said, tilting his head back to see him. "When did I say our sacrifice was one of yours?"

Harry's breath hitched for a moment. "She was a dark witch?"

"Of course. Blood willingly given is more potent. And the sacrifice had to be one of our own. It made our separation from your kind clean."

Finally Harry didn't ask another question, but Draco took no satisfaction in the silence. The bloody rite at the center of the entire war between light and dark lay bare for Harry's judgment and they both knew that even though Draco had never been there, he approved of it just as if he had taken part. Magic as a well-regulated tool or as a dangerous sacrifice, that was the difference between the light and the dark. That the dark wizards ended the drought and saved everyone at the cost of one life made no difference. They broke the rule that kept them living in relative peace and in all that time, their philosophy had not changed.

Oath Breakers. Murderers.

"Do you still love me now?" Draco asked, wrapping his hands around his amulet. "Now that you know?"

Harry didn't answer except to wrap his arms around Draco and hold him close, resting his head on his blond hair.

How Harry could stand to touch him, he didn't know. At last all of his old skin had been shed, leaving his body stark white with only a few tatters remaining on his tail and back. Draco hated his wyvern skin. As pale as his human skin was, at least it held some color. This snake skin looked diseased to him, like the pallor of death, and the remaining tatters only made it worse.

Harry didn't seem to think like most other people did. Where others saw an irredeemable dark wizard, Harry saw something to be protected. The wizarding world thought he was a spoiled Malfoy, the school thought he was a quidditch cheat, not entirely untrue he admitted to himself, and the entire Weasely clan probably thought he sacrificed red-headed purebloods every full moon. In nearly everyone's eyes, he was an anathema. He didn't know why Harry of all people should come to think differently and worse, he didn't know if he wasn't to blame. A vague desire to smash his amulet flitted through his mind, but fear of what might happen convinced him not to think about it.

He felt the first muscle spasm in his lower back and thought it was just another twinge until he felt a stronger spasm in his tail. In a panic, he squirmed in Harry's arms trying to get away but already he could tell it was too late. As fast as he'd transformed into a half-wyvern, his body began to transfigure itself back to normal. What was left of his old skin sloughed off as he turned a healthy color, his eyes lost their milky cover, and his claws receded. It felt like snakes slithering inside his skin and he couldn't get away from them. Whimpering, he squirmed in Harry's lap, holding him tight as his bones writhed.

Wish I hadn't left his robe in the other stall, he thought as his legs separated. A few more seconds as his body reconstructed itself and at last he looked human again. He panted for breath while his body calmed down and simply lay like a rag doll, legs slightly askew on the floor.

"Are you all right now?" Harry asked, leaning over him. "Your tail was going nuts."

Draco would have answered except he felt too flustered, sprawled naked in Harry's lap. Thank goodness the torches burned on their dim night time setting. The darkness made him feel a little less vulnerable.

Once he felt a little less wobbly, he sat up and met Harry's look. "Yes, yes I'm all right. Changing back and forth isn't very pleasant, that's all."

"You went all tense. I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself."

"I'm okay," Draco said. He stared at Harry for a few seconds, finally able to see him without worrying about his own anxieties. The scant firelight reflected in his eyes and played over the highlights of the Gryffindor's face, painting him in soft orange and stark black. Draco watched the light until he decided he didn't just want to watch.

"I had a snake's tongue before," he said softly. "Let's do this right this time."

Leaning close, he put both hands on Harry's face and covered his mouth with his own, jumping slightly when Harry grabbed his waist and pulled him closer. Pressed against his clothed body, Draco felt at a disadvantage but he couldn't bring himself to care. He liked it even better when the other boy ran his fingers through his hair, tilting his head for a better fit. However, he didn't expect Harry's other hand to slide from his waist to his ass, grabbing and jerking him forward. Breaking their kiss with a yelp, Draco relaxed when he saw the surprised look on Harry's face.

"Don't know your own strength?" he laughed.

"I didn't mean to--" Harry stammered, "I mean, I didn't plan on grabbing you like that."

"Pushy lion." He glanced over his shoulder and then back at Harry. "I notice you haven't taken your hand off."

"Your legs seem a little wobbly," Harry said, the beginnings of a smile reappearing on his face. "I wouldn't want you to fall."

"Such a thoughtful Gryffindor," Draco said. He leaned close for another kiss, but from this angle the amulet swung on its short strap around his neck and smacked Harry's throat. Draco didn't notice until Harry pulled back slightly and caught it in his hand, curiously staring into the glass.

"Is that a piece of paper inside?" he asked. "This stuff isn't made of blood, is it?"

"No, not blood," Draco said, his body turning cold despite the hot water. He wanted to make a grab for it but held himself back when he thought that might make Harry suspicious. "It's just a good luck charm, that's all. I told you already, remember?"

"Mm." Harry held it up, fascinated by the crystallized honey shining in the light. "I don't remember you having it before."

"I made after the attack in the dungeons," Draco said, looking away. He didn't trust himself under Harry's unpredictable legilimancy. "I just wanted something else for protection."

Harry let the vial fall back against Draco's chest. "Well, you have me now."

"I do, don't I?" Draco couldn't look at him again. "I-I think we'd better go, let everyone know that I'm--I mean, that we're back. And we should take a shower. I smell like a snake."

"I think you smell fine," Harry said, but he let go and stood up. "To the showers then?"

"We're already in the showers," Draco said. "You just need to get rid of the charms on the drains keeping the water from going out."

"Why me?"

"Because my wand is somewhere underwater," Draco said. "And you've still got yours, right?"

With a rueful smile, Harry pulled out his wand and left the stall, not noticing when Draco scooted into the shadows when he pushed the curtain back. One by one, Draco listened to him unsealing each drain and soon the water level noticeably dipped. He leaned against the wall and sighed, waiting for him to finish. Simply standing made him feel human again.

"All done." Harry set a soggy mess of something that looked like school robes on the floor outside his stall. "Here's your wand. I found your clothes, but I don't think you're going to want them anymore."

"That's fine," Draco said, taking his wand back. "Pansy probably left a clean set right outside."

"Oh, okay." Harry looked down towards the other stalls. "Um, I suppose we'd better clean up, then."

Draco frowned in confusion until he realized that Harry meant to shower in another stall. Relief and regret simultaneously washed over him. On one hand he wanted to continue that kiss, but on the other hand he didn't want Harry getting even more curious about the amulet.

"Right," he nodded. "Don't take off without me, okay?"

Rather than use the old soap left on the rusted holders, he cast a scourgify spell on himself and rinsed off with cool water. There were no towels so he had to dry himself with a charm, and then he peeked out of the curtain to make sure Harry was still in the shower before heading quickly for the door. He'd certainly been in communal showers before, but something about being naked in front of Harry's eyes made him feel infinitely more self-conscious.

The cool cavern air made him shiver, but as expected he found a clean set of robes next to the door, along with Vincent and Gregory playing cards on the floor. Neither of them looked up but he wasn't surprised. The last time he'd been transformed was also at Hogwarts over what should have been his Christmas vacation, and the tantrum he'd thrown when they accidentally saw him in his transformed state probably still gave them nightmares. Now they wouldn't even risk seeing him out of the corner of their eyes.

"You can take off now," he said, scooping his clothes up with one hand. "I'm back to normal."

Gregory immediately got his feet, but Vincent gathered the cards and looked over his shoulder at him.

"Potter still with you?" he asked.

"Of course." Leaving the door cracked, he stood out of sight as he dressed. "Has anything happened while I've been gone?"

"Nothing bad. Pansy's got everyone studying after classes. Theo's been having tryouts for the quidditch team, but he hasn't announced any decisions yet. Oh, and you're in the Prophet again."

A sick feeling of dread welled up in him as Vincent offered him a crumpled newspaper. "You read the other articles?"

"Sometimes we'd find old newspapers that people'd thrown away." He stretched and yawned. "That's today's issue. Pansy's furious about it."

"Wonderful," Draco muttered, holding the paper in his teeth while he finished putting on his robes. As he stepped into his shoes, he unfurled the paper and nearly dropped it after seeing the headline.

MALFOY CONFESSED DARK WIZARD

"The ancient scourge of the wizarding world now claims sanctuary at Hogwarts School. Several students and faculty who wish to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal informed the Daily Prophet that Headmaster Dumbledore himself addressed the student body and confirmed that Draco Malfoy, son of the death eater Lucius Malfoy, is indeed a dark wizard.

"Dumbledore said he's earned his trust," said one student. "But I don't see what he's done to earn any trust. All he's done is stay away from almost everyone. He doesn't even eat with us. When he wears that cloak with the hood, he really looks like a dark wizard from the storybooks."

For our muggle-born readers who may not understand the full implications of this, dark magic is founded upon bloody rituals and crimes carried out under the cover of night. Necromancy, one of the most forbidden perversions of magic, is a regular practice. History abounds with their misdeeds and although their numbers have dwindled in recent years, obviously some still lurk among us.

Now a dark wizard lurks among our children with Headmaster Dumbledore's blessing. No doubt the previous mishaps that we've reported, including a recent poisoning of five students and an unprecedented hallucinarium explosion that nearly drove several children mad including Harry Potter himself, are connected to Draco Malfoy's presence. We even have reason to believe that Malfoy savagely attacked the school custodian in a fit of rage. While the reason for this attack is in question, some readers will no doubt wonder if this was an attempted sacrifice halted solely by Harry Potter's intervention.

"It was horrible," said one of the school faculty. "I saw Malfoy standing next to Filch's body, all twisted up, and Harry was--Harry Potter I mean, was between them like he'd stopped him from killing."

Indeed, not only is a dark wizard hiding amongst children, but in an even more disturbing twist, Draco Malfoy has been seen increasingly in the presence of the Boy Who Lived. Who knows what influence a dark wizard might have on the impressionable muggle-born who has already gone through so much in his young life? The pair have recently disappeared, though the Headmaster issued only a short statement that both were recuperating from injuries sustained during a fight with several students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. We must question his assertion that they were fighting in self-defense, as not only has no honest wizard ever defended a dark wizard, but the other Hogwarts students have also disappeared. Some sources say they are at Hogwarts' hospital, while other sources say they are recovering at St. Mungo's.

Parents have a right to know how long dark wizards have wielded influenced upon the school. Lucius Malfoy was one of the most prominent school governors and an instrumental figure in authorizing faculty changes. Now his son, who has developed a reputation at the Ministry for ruthless behavior, holds his own power over Hogwarts, especially over the Hogwarts' house of Slytherin. Missing for several months, sources confirm that the children in this house arrived during the night with Draco Malfoy waiting for them, along with Headmaster Dumbledore and Harry Potter."

No wonder Pansy was furious. Implicating himself was one thing, but casting suspicion on the children was unforgivable. He was lucky she hadn't stormed into the shower room demanding he do something about it. He didn't even want to think about the swarm of parents that would inevitably arrive to save their children from him.

"You all right?" Harry asked as he came out of the shower, tucking his wand away. "You look sick."

"I feel sick," Draco said, handing him the paper.

While he waited for Harry to read it, he ran a hand through his hair wondering how he could shore up their plan to stay at Hogwarts before the Prophet and Voldemort collapsed it beneath him.

"It was bound to get out sooner or later," Harry said.

"Yes, but I was hoping for later." He hissed in frustration and slammed his fist against the wall, wincing as it sent a jolt of pain through his right hand. Still not fully healed from its injuries, he figured that it probably never would be.

"I thought for sure everyone was behind us, though." Harry rolled the paper up and slipped it into a pocket. "Centuries of fighting doesn't just go away overnight." Draco started pacing while he thought. So much time and effort put into betraying the dark lord, sneaking away the loyal Knights of Walpurgis, hiding their children until they could reach Hogwarts, all in danger from a single Prophet article.

Prepared to tiptoe out of the common room and avoid Pansy's wrath, he was a little relieved to see that the room was empty save for Vincent and Gregory waiting for them at the door. Draco took a moment to look around. The mess of blankets and pillows in the center of the floor had been tidied up a bit with books and scrolls and quills scattered amongst them. A few bowls of fruit and pastries stood on each table, most likely treats from the house elves suffering a guilty conscience.

"I need to go straight to Dumbledore," Draco said for Harry's benefit. He knew his two bodyguards would follow him without any explanation. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course," Harry nodded.

With Harry at his side and Vincent and Gregory behind him, Draco felt more prepared, although he let Harry walk outside first just in case. No one would attack the Boy Who Lived, and even if they did, Harry was a good enough fighter that Draco felt quite safe standing well behind him.

"Vincent," he called over his shoulder. "Have quidditch try-outs been started?"

"Theo said there wasn't enough time to have full try-outs," he answered. "Anyone who was on the team before's still on. He's just looking to fill in for Elaron and Matthew and Risael and--"

"Right," Draco interrupted. He didn't linger on the names. A few of them had joined up with his father's knights but a few had simply disappeared. Whether that was because Voldemort had killed them or because they had gone into hiding, he didn't know. He wondered if they had joined up with Voldemort. Perhaps they had been one of those killed when he burned down his home. Or during his flight to Hogwarts, he hadn't clearly seen the death eater he killed with a crepara curse, his victim's face obscured by the spell as it hit him and turned his body to dry ash. Could that have been one of his former teammates? He felt no regret, but still...

The rest of the walk to Dumbledore's office was quiet.

Glad that the old password still worked on the gargoyle, Draco took a step forward, stopped, and stared up the steps. For a moment he didn't move. Snape had always been beside him when he went up to that office, and in the rare instance where he faced Dumbledore alone, it was on his turf or with Harry beside him. Now he stood at the door and felt like a young, inexperienced Malfoy about to step into the Ministry alone for the first time.

"Draco?" Harry asked. "Are you all right?"

"Just a little nervous," Draco answered. Swallowing once, he glanced over his shoulder again. "You two stay here. We'll be back soon."

With a deep breath, he led Harry inside. His eyes widened when he found Severus already seated in front of Dumbledore's desk. Neither of them looked surprised to see him.

"Mister Malfoy, Harry," Dumbledore said with his usual smile. "Please sit down. We've been expecting you."

"Glad I don't disappoint," he said. "How did you know I would come here?"

"Your master has great faith in you," Dumbledore said, ignoring Snape's glare. "He knew your transformation would end this morning and felt certain you would want to address the Daily Prophet's latest article against you. The only question is how."

"I..." Draco steeled himself for his master's disapproval. In his mind he knew that no matter what plan he decided on, Severus would still call it useless and him stupid, but that was simply the way Severus was. "I want to arrange an interview with Rita Skeeter."

At their startled looks, he consoled himself that they would not call him stupid. Crazy was a step up, wasn't it?

"I admit," Dumbledore said after a moment, "that I had expected something a little more subtle."

"Subtlety completely eludes his family," Severus bit.

"We've managed to keep some things secret," Draco said, glancing sideways at his master. Insinuation never worked on Severus, though, and the potions master didn't even raise an eyebrow. "But hiding isn't going to work anymore. I need to do something drastic before the ministry and who knows how many parents come after me."

"Owls have indeed begun to flock to my window," Dumbledore admitted. "Mostly howlers. The more rational letters have informed me that they intend to collect their children as soon as tomorrow."

Dozens of parents ostensibly there for their children but really scouring the school for the lone Malfoy. "Then I need to do the interview as quickly as possible. Today, even."

"So soon?" Dumbledore asked.

"Without any preparation?" Snape demanded. "Are you mad or simply stupid?"

"I routed the ministry and got father out of Azkaban," Draco snapped. "And I didn't have any preparation then."

Glaring eyes, fingers curling around the chair arms, Draco recognized the signs of his master truly about to lose his temper and continued in a milder voice. "I don't have to make them like me. All I have to do is put some doubt into their heads. I can do that. You know I can."

"Your father will flay us both for this," Severus murmured.

"I won't mind," Draco said, "because then I'll know he's alive."

Dumbledore picked up a quill and unrolled a fresh parchment, beginning to write. "Very well. I'll inform Ms. Skeeter that you are interested in an interview, provided she does not use her quick quotes quill. If you want it in the Prophet tomorrow, I think you'd best see her today, before noon perhaps?"

"What time is it now?"

"Classes have just started. You'll have a couple hours to get ready."

He tried not to sound too nervous. "Where should I meet her?"

"Somewhere safe," Dumbledore said, punctuating his sentence with a firm jab on the parchment. "I suggest inside the great hall during Hagrid's class. I believe that one is currently comprised of Gryffindors and Slytherins."

"And it will force us to keep it short," Draco said, "before lunch starts."

"Quite." Dumbledore rolled the letter up and sealed it with a flourish of his wand. "I'll send this out immediately. However, I also wanted to speak with you about Mr. Filch."

"...yes?" Draco wondered if Dumbledore was waiting for him to apologize for nearly killing the squib. If so, he would be waiting a long time. Fortunately Dumbledore did not press the matter.

"He has been questioned under veritaserum and confessed to several acts of sabotage, including some that we either put down as accidents or had not taken effect yet. However, we don't know what he was planning with the runes he wrote on the Slytherin entrance. The writing was incomplete."

"He had a sheet of paper he was writing from," Draco said, recalling the brief glimpse he'd had before chasing Filch through the dungeons.

"True, but it was like a mathematical equation marking your door as something to be acted upon by another spell. He didn't know what that spell was."

"Damn convenient," Draco muttered.

"The dark lord did not trust him enough to tell him," Severus said. "He probably knew we'd find him out eventually."

"Why was Filch working for Voldemort?" Harry asked, looking up at Dumbledore and missing the shiver that went through Draco and, to a lesser extent, Severus, at hearing that name. "He's a squib."

"True," Dumbledore said. "But the dark lord has no compunction about who he uses. In the past, he has shown himself quite willing to use half-bloods. All that matters is that they serve him, and in that regard Filch suited him perfectly."

"But why?" Harry asked.

"A lifetime of pent up jealousy and bitterness. Many wizards look down on him in pity, and there are those who treat him with open ridicule. His inability to use magic made him an easy target for other wizards' cruelty and Voldemort's lies."

Draco quietly rolled his eyes. Maybe Dumbledore didn't want to admit that Filch was a sadistic bastard who loved tormenting children, but he and everyone else in Hogwarts knew it and treated him with the utmost contempt. Filch was the best example of the evils of mixing wizard and muggle blood, powerless, envious and easily controlled.

"So that's it?" Draco asked. "Filch put us all in danger and all we can do is wait and see what this unknown spell is?"

"Not quite," Dumbledore said. "The runes have been erased from your door, as well as from a few spots on the outside of the castle. Meanwhile I have asked the centaurs to be extra vigilant. They may have let the Slytherins come through, but they will likely kill the next wizards they come across. There will be no attacks in Hogwarts while I am here."

"Unless it's a disgruntled parent coming after me," Draco said.

"That won't happen."

Dumbledore's words did not fill him with confidence, and a few minutes later he left his office, walking at Severus' heels. Having to leave Harry at his arithmancy class was even worse, and they stood whispering to each other for a moment outside the door until Severus snapped at him to hurry up.

Chancing a quick kiss, Draco smiled at Harry's startled expression. "I'll see you after classes, then?"

"Not during third hour?" Harry asked. "I've got defense, but I could skip so you're not alone during the interview. No one should be alone with her."

"Having the Boy Who Lived with Draco Malfoy, dark wizard at large, would just make her worse," Draco said. "Don't worry, I've dealt with her before. I'll be fine."

Walking backward for a few steps while Harry reluctantly went to class, he turned when he heard Snape's annoyed grumble. He caught up with him at the stairs and waited at his side as the staircase slowly turned toward them.

"This is a fool's errand," Severus said. "You are recklessly courting danger whose only end is a shred of hope that you might successfully play on the emotions of the wizarding world at large."

"If you didn't want me to do it, you should have said something before."

"You'd obviously made up your mind. I've already learned that once a Malfoy sets his mind to something, they cannot be swayed, no matter how stupid their decision." He glared down at Draco as if daring him to argue. "You'd better tread carefully. You've some talent for manipulation, but this woman has been manipulating others for longer than you've been alive."

"My father would've--"

"No, Draco." Stepping onto the staircase, Severus turned and looked at him for a moment. "Lucius doesn't matter right now. You cannot rely on anything anyone else has done. For the next few hours, all that matters is what Draco Malfoy will do."

As the staircase turned and took his master to another door, Draco felt utterly alone and colder than Voldemort's blizzard.

TBC...