Changing Minds in Hard Times

Draco came into conciousness slowly. His eyesight was blurry, and his head ached something awful. He tried to move his arms; they felt stiff and sore. After twisting his body as much as he could, he realized he must be tied to a chair with his arms twisted and tied behind his back.



He gazed out over the new room, his grey eyes hesitent. He didn’t recognize the room he was in, but he was sure he was still in Hogwarts. He wasn’t sure quite how he had gotten there, but slowly he remembered the compromising position he had been caught in with Harry. However, he couldn’t remember what happened after the door swung open, and Tonks stood in the doorway, looking very much like she had the time she walked in on Draco in the final stages of his wanking session several days back.



He shook his head to clear it, and turned suddenly towards a noise coming from behind him. He contorted himself as much as he could, trying to see over his shoulder. A door was opening, causing a draft of cold, damp air to hit Draco’s body – drawing his attention to the fact that he was once again naked.



He blanched as he saw who had come in the door. Alastor Moody swept in as quickly as he could with his odd hobbling walk. He brought his cane forcefully against the back of the chair Draco was in with a loud “thwack.”



“I see you woke up, young Malfoy.”



Draco tried to back the chair away from the man now before him. “Don’t touch me. Where’s Harry?”



“Ah, Harry, now is he? What happened to you calling him Potter? Eh?”



“That’s none of your business.”



“Is it not? Well, I’ll get it from you somehow. If you wont volunteer the information, we’ll do this my way.” Moody said, turning away to pick up a small vial off the table nearby.



“But surely you know Veritaserum when you see it, being the potions prodegy Snape always claimed you were.”



Just then Hermione and Harry burst through the door, followed by Tonks and Remus.



“Moody, get away from Draco.” Harry said, his eyes blazing anger. His wand was out and at the ready, and he looked more then ready to use it.



“He’s bewtiched you, boy. Surely you noticed how quickly your feelings changed when he came around. Suddenly you’re willing to lower your standards and trust little death eater junior here. Don’t you find that odd?”



“Draco’s not a death eater. He told me that and I believe him.”



“See! He’s got ya right where he wants ya!” He turned back to Draco and bent over a bit, so as to be even closer to the younger blond’s face. “But you’ll tell us the truth after some veritaserum, won’t ya?” He uncorked the vial and pushed the thing past Malfoy\'s tightly closed lips and drained it into his mouth. Then he clamped his hand over Draco’s mouth and pushed his head back, pulling the vial from his lips while forcing the man to swallow the liquid in his mouth.



Draco coughed and sputtered as the hand was removed from his mouth. He felt an odd sensation coming over him, and suddenly thought about the tell-all serum that Harry had slipped him in his tea. How would that mix with the veritaserum? He looked up in a panic to find Hermione’s face a mask of worry. So she had thought of that too.



Before long, Draco felt detached from the situation. He could still speak, and hear, but it was like he was a spectator, watching and hearing himself answer the questions Moody asked him – no matter how revolting or embarrassing the answers were.



Now everybody in the room knew Draco had killed before, had been raped repeatedly, and had been forced to be Voldemort’s whore.



Then he started in on the prophecy. And Moody got answers, whether they were the ones he wanted or not. Yes, the prophecy was real. Yes, Draco intended to see the prophecy fufilled. No, the prophecy didn’t include killing Harry, or turning him in to the Dark Lord for whatever punishment the evil creature saw fit.



And finally, that the prophecy fortold that the child of a cursed womb would be born who would bring forth life from it’s own body. The child resulting would be the seed of one of the greatest wizards of all time; one who was fated to defeat the Darkness. When the seed of the great wizard mingled with the power of the child of the cursed womb, the greatest weapon against evil would be produced, and the side of Light would triumph.



Few people got the insinuations made in Draco’s words right away. Hermione, of course, was the first to put it all together. But she had been reading up on the subject, and knew a bit more about the prophecy.



Harry was next to understand. Draco was the child of a cursed womb. Harry himself was the one fated to defeat the Darkness. And if they made a child, somehow that would produce the greatest weapon against evil, and the side of light would win.



Hermione knew that the greatest weapon had to be love. That’s what Dumbledore had told Harry he had a lot of, and was what he was protected by. If Harry as a baby could be protected from Voldemort’s wrath by the love of his mother, what could love do if a powerful, nearly grown wizard was in possession of it?



Moody was frustraited. He had used the veritaserum, so everything in his training told him Draco spoke the truth. But he could not allow himself to accept that Draco wasn’t somehow a death eater, and was lying about everything else.



Surely there had to be something that was helping the blond man lie. Surely…of course! Moody remembered Harry saying he had given the young man a truth telling serum. So it had to be that the truth serum canceled out the effect of the veritaserum, and he was lying this whole time and pretending to be in a trance-like state. Yes…that was the only way.



He grabbed the naked blond by the hair and pulled him up a ways, watching as Harry took a step forward. Moody knew the only thing keeping the Boy-Who-Lived from cursing him was the fact that Hermione and Tonks restrained him when he tried to lunge for the man holding Draco captive.



“I think I’ve figured it out. This little bastard has been lying this whole time. The truth telling serum and the veritaserum canceled each other out, and he’s been lying this whole…”



He stopped suddenly as Draco made a choking noise, and then a flood of foul smelling liquid splashed out upon Mad-Eye Moody, effectivly causing him to drop the blond and step away.



Harry winced as Draco vomited all over the taller man, though he was sure he didn’t feel sorry for Moody. Moody deserved that, and more. He shook his head and went over to untie and collect Draco. He wasn’t going to waste one more minute in here while Moody tried to prove that Harry’s potential lover was a death eater spy.



He picked up Draco bridal style and carried him out the door, this time to his own private room.