The Malfoy Trial

The interviews ended with a happy Binder appointed as Chief Proctor and rushing off into the office to look through the estates’ papers and, with Kreacher, to interview for her three assistants later. Nubbins had six gardener elves to help him; two for each establishment. Butler and Cook appointed for the lodge plus Butler and Housekeeper for Grimmauld place.

Over lunch Draco asked: “Why is Binder appointing three assistants, Harry.”

“One for each house, House Snape needs one as well, doesn’t it?”

“Oh! Never thought about that; thanks very much, most thoughtful of you; not that there’s much to administer.”

“So you’re going to vegetate at school, are you?”

“What?”

“You’ll be earning, and there’s the property to sort out, isn’t there.”

“That’s not worth much, and I’m not going to live in that pokey hole anyway, at least not in the immediate future.”

“So, sell it, use the money; remember what Binder said about investment. You can let it grow for three years and live on your salary.”

“Being with you and at school costs nothing so most of my salary can be banked.”

“I’m happy with that. We’ll have to introduce Binder to Griphook and make an arrangement for her to enter the Potter/Black vaults, won’t we?”

“Kreacher, as your Reeve should have that right too.”

“Okay! We’ll see to that tomorrow … Robbie and Bobby?”

“Yes Milord?”

“We’re going to the Lodge this afternoon; would you like to come with us?”

“What’s the Lodge, Lord Harry?”

“It’s a Potter property in Devon. We stay there sometimes.”

“We’ve heard about Devon, but never been there. Is it cold?”

“Go and look out of the Breakfast room windows and tell me what the weather’s like.”

“Yes Milord.” Two confused elves wandered into the said space.

They returned with a question on their lips: “The sun’s shining there, why isn’t it out of these windows?”

“Because they’re magic windows tuned to the lodge, just like the Ministry has.”

“We’ve never been to the Ministry, Lord Draco. We weren’t allowed out of our cellars.”

“Oh … I see! Even the Manor elves were not that badly treated, Harry.”

“Robbie? Apart from coming here, have you ever been outside?” Harry asked.

“Once; when we were taken to the Hogwarts infirmary, but we were unconscious then. After we recovered Mistress Poppy kept us in the wards, helping the other badly treated elves.”

“We were very much afraid when we came here,” continued Bobby: “Reeve Kreacher said we’d be okay, but we didn’t really believe him.”

“So this is all a new adventure, then?”

“Yes, Lord Harry. You’re not going to shut us up in a cellar are you?”

“No way! However, you must tell us if you feel afraid of something or someone.”

“Yes Milord, we will. It should be all right if one of you is with us, we hope. That shower was the first one we ever had. Mistress Poppy let us have baths; but the hot rain was something else.”

“What about the other things we did?”

“We’ve done those before many times, Lord Draco. It was quite a turn on to see you two doing them as well.”

Harry grinned: “Seeing you doing it was quite a turn on for me, too. So … Do you feel up to coming with us to the Lodge?”

“Reeve Kreacher, says we have to; because you sleep there sometimes. We should be all right if you’re with us.”

Not long afterwards a party of four flooed to Potterton Lodge. Harry and Draco showed their two personal elves round the house; marvelling at the two elf’s amazement. Harry now had an inkling why Kreacher had taken the two of them on.

Draco was pleasantly surprised when the two elves came into the conservatory.

“Ooh; Lord Draco. We know what most of these plants are, but we’ve never seen them growing, aren’t they green; they were usually brown and shrivelled when we sorted them. It’s wonderful to see them actually growing, instead of as pictures in a catalogue.”

Harry saw a tear in Draco’s eyes, as he realised how deprived these two had been. Harry gave his lover a quick understanding hug, and passed his handkerchief over. Draco recovered and challenged the elves to identify all the plants they could. Both Magicals were surprised at their assistants’ encyclopaedic knowledge. So engrossed were they, as they walked, that they didn’t notice the transition from greenhouse to garden.

Robbie stopped and stared upwards: “What’s happened to the ceiling?”

“We’re outside now, Robbie. There is no ceiling.”

“I’m not sure I like it. It’s so open. We were worried when we woke in the infirmary but at least there was a ceiling there, albeit a long way off.”

“Although it’s not really true, you could imagine the blue sky up there is the ceiling, if that’s any help,” suggested Harry.

Bobby looked dubious: “It’ll do, I suppose. Let us get used to that before you tell us what it really is, okay?”

Harry nodded. Draco re-engaged the elves’ attention in plants as they moved down the terraces. Nubbins and his small army were working and had half of the fourth level already cleared.

Harry drew his garden-super aside quietly. “Nubbins, this is their first day. Shouldn’t they be resting and sorting out their accommodation?”

“That’s what I thought. I ’ad t’ be cross with ’em t’ stop for lunch, they be so eager t’ get started. I feels quite out o’ breath with their enthusiasm. As ’t’is, we’re going t’ run out o’ th’ supply o’ replacement plants quite soon.”

“See Binder, I’ll ask her to make some galleons available so you can buy some more. We’ve already agreed what we were going to do. All we’ll be doing is bringing the plans forward; Okay?”

“Yes ’Arry.”

Harry smiled at Nubbins and winked. Then he clapped his hands. The garden elves looked up.

“The rest of today is a holiday; tidy up and then relax. Is that clear?”

“YES MILORD.”

“Draco and I are going to have a swim in the sea. Perhaps some of you would like to come with us.”

“What’s the sea?” whispered Robbie in Draco’s ear.

“An enormous expanse of salty water,” Draco whispered back: “On a hot day like this we swim to cool down. Come and see.”

Two of the older gardener-elves stayed with Nubbins drinking lemonade, the other four followed the two Magicals. Luckily the sea was fairly calm; even so, the low breakers came up to the elves shoulders. Robbie and Bobby held back until the others started splashing and laughing, then the two of them joined their brother-elves at the water’s edge. Harry and Draco also stripped and waded out somewhat further, but kept an eye out on the frolicking elves. Sometime later they noticed that four elves had come out of the water to get dry. The two Magicals looked round for their assistants, feeling slightly alarmed.

“Pfhst … We’re here.” Robbie spat out some water and both elves could be seen swimming.

“I thought you were afraid of the water?”

“Not the water, Lord Draco, but the waves. If the Apothecary thought we’d done something bad he’d throw us in the waste water tank. We quickly learnt how to keep ourselves afloat. He used to tie weights to us to see if we would drown, fishing us out just before we did.”

“Tie weights?”

“Yes Lord Harry, round our dicks and balls. It was agony. That’s how we found out we liked playing with each other. We’d sneak a bit of salve and rub it on the sore bits.”

“Oh! We usually swim out to that rock over there. Do you feel up to it?”

“Easy-peasy, we’ll race you?”

The two elves set off, cutting through the water at a great rate. Harry and Draco were easily outdistanced and arrived a minute later.

“How far’s the next rock?”

“A very, very long way. At least as far as we flooed from Grimmauld Place, if not further.”

“I’m not sure we could last quite that long. We did swim for fifteen hours once, when he went out and forgot about us. We had a friendly rat that came and supported us. We used to give her titbits when ever we were fed. ”

Draco huffed in sympathy: “We have disillusionment wards only as far as here. So it’s best not to go any further, anyway, this flat warm rock is fun to lie on.”

“Hmm … Lord Harry? What’s a disillusionment ward?”

“Um … Imagine a transparent ceiling, dome shaped like the cellar arches. From inside it looks ordinary, but from the outside it looks as though no one’s here, no garden, no house, no beach; nothing but trees and water.”

“Sounds cool! Will you show us how to make one, please?”

“Draco’s the expert on that.”

“Not today, I won’t, but when we have to make some more I’ll get you two involved, Okay?”

“Thanks a lot!”

As they lay there gazing up into the sky, clouds had to be explained, so had birds and certain insects. The elves thirst for knowledge was enormous and soon led to a tour of the small island peering at the denizens of rock pools and examining shells. Harry and Draco became infected and were soon as engrossed as their assistants. Eventually Harry drew his wand out of his hair and Accioed ‘Seashore Flora and Fauna’ from the library. On opening the book up they found water marks and grains of sand and supposed that this was not the first time the tome had travelled to the island. Another absorbing hour was spent trying to identify the sea-treasures they had picked up.

“In locum redito,” had the book flying back to its shelf in the library and the quartet swimming back towards the shore.

The two elves were intrigued by the passage; having to swim whilst the Magicals walked. Bobby had to be disentangled twice, Robbie escaped the seaweed’s clutches altogether. Although reluctant to enter the lift; once it had started the elves smiled in recognition of the magic used.

Jevons, the lodge butler was in the hall when the nude, towel-carrying quartet emerged. He blinked twice before regaining his composure.

“Lord Harry? This invitation has just arrived.”

“Thanks Jevons … It’s from Molly … We’re invited for dinner at the Burrow this evening.”

“That’s a bit short notice, Harry.”

“Not really. Percy hinted that we might be going didn’t he.”

“That’s a bit awkward for me, though.”

“No it isn’t. There’s a postscript; it says: ‘Tell Draco that as he’s a Snape now, no feud can exist between House Weasley and a house that no longer exists, so he will be most welcome to share our meal. I hope he likes his present’.”

“Present? What Present?”

“I took the liberty of laying it out on your bed, Milord.”

“Thank you, Jevons.” Draco ran up the stairs.

Harry followed on, suspecting what the present was. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw his vassal struggling with a dark green garment. Once it was in place Harry saw that it was a Weasley jumper. The jumper had light green wavy lines as a pattern and, of course, a large silver ‘D’ front and back. Next door Jevons had laid out Harry’s last Christmas present. Maroon with a pink wavy line pattern and a golden ‘H’.

“Can I wear these slacks with it, Harry, please?”

“I think I prefer you in a loincloth. Come to think of it, Kreacher said that you should be nude inside a house. Mmm, that’s even better. Percy and George would love to ogle you.”

Draco’s face fell, and he struggled to get the sweater off again; looking sad as he laid it on the bed.

“Right, Adept Snape, a quick shower to get the salt off us, Yes?”

“Yes, Milord.” Draco’s shoulders slumped as he went towards the shower.

Harry winked at the two elves when they joined in. It was a quick shower. Draco looked miserable as he watched Harry put his jumper and slacks on.

Harry could contain his mirth no longer and burst out laughing. Draco looked up expecting to find a gloating look. Instead he found a gesturing Harry, indicating he should get dressed.

“Bloody Potter jokes.” Draco tried to look sullen, but the relief of not being shown up at the Weasleys soon broke down his pout.

“Forgiven?” Harry asked, hugging Draco.

“Almost! As punishment you’ll have to wait whilst I brush my hair thoroughly.”

Harry sighed dramatically, and picked up the biggest book he could find: “I’ll have time to read this through, then.”

“Twice, Potter, twice!”

In fact Draco was not that long; he was equally intrigued to see what the Burrow was really like. He felt slightly like one of the elves when they had explored the lodge earlier. Meanwhile Harry had suggested to their assistants that they return to Grimmauld Place, to sort out with Kreacher where they were going to sleep, and to better familiarise themselves with the building. He also had to reassure them again that they were not going to be locked in a cellar.

###

“Hello Draco. I have the chess board ready, in case we feel our rivalry getting too much,” was Ronald’s greeting.

“I’m not gritting my teeth yet. Ron.” Draco shook hands and then was introduced to the others. On being showed round, after the meal, Draco was surprised at the size of the house and its peripatetic passages.

“Harry, could we talk privately, please?” asked Ginevra.

Harry nodded glumly, knowing he would have to break off their tentative engagement. Leaving the others in the main room the pair went into the kitchen. Harry positioned himself where he could see Draco, who was by now, engrossed in a game of chess with Ronald.

“Oh dear … Harry … It’s like this … Oh dear … Well, I don’t think we should get married just yet … I’m sorry if I was cold after the battle … but I’ve been thinking about things … Oh dear.”

“Ginny, don’t distress yourself further … Um … I’m in much the same frame of mind … Getting involved with Draco has set my mind wandering too … Then I’m going to have my mind very occupied, what with teaching at school, and learning to administer two estates.”

“So can we remain friends? I like talking to you, but all that kissing and stuff no longer appeals.”

“I like talking to you as well. I was worried how I was going to tell you. I nearly didn’t come over this evening.”

“Right … Let’s go and tell the family, shall we?”

“Um … I s’pose we’d better.”

Ginevra skipped back into the room: “Mum, Dad, Brothers, Friends; we’ve something to tell you.”

Molly looked up expecting a wedding announcement.

“Um … Ginny and I’ve talked it over … Um … Although we’ll remain friends … We don’t think that marriage is for us in the foreseeable future.”

Molly looked puzzled, searching both faces for any sign of distress. She heaved a big sigh and then smiled: “That’s one less wedding cake I’ll have to bake, I s’pose. Much better you decided before you were hitched. I’ve seen a few very unhappy marriages because neither partner could bear to hurt the other. Will you remain friends?”

“Yes Mum, I think mine was just a crush. Then to have the most famous Magical as a boyfriend was great too. All the other girls were madly jealous.” Ginevra burst out laughing, and everyone joined in.

Draco looked at Harry and winked, smiling broadly. George caught it and nudged Percy, lifting his eyebrows.

Arthur stood up: “I think this calls for a little celebration. Not them being separated, but because they’ve grown up. I think we should toast the three new Hogwarts tutors, too. To Hermione, Harry and Draco.”

“HERMIONE, HARRY AND DRACO,” replied the rest of the family; drinking from whatever receptacle they had in their hands.

Hermione went over to Ronald and nudged him, he went red and then stood.

“All this acting like grown-ups must be catching. Hermione and I are postponing any nuptials for three years. We both want children; however it’d be best if we obtain our qualifications first. We both will have a lot on our plates one way and another and it would be unfair to bring children into the world when we didn’t have the proper time to devote to them. Sorry Mum, I know you want lots of grandchildren.”

Molly hugged both of them: “I have one, and a promise of another. Teddy’s a sort of grandchild. A bit like Harry’s a pseudo son or Hermione’s almost another daughter. To have them in instalments will give me time to spoil them all without feeling overwhelmed. It’s just possible that there’s another pseudo son budding too.” She went over to Draco and gave him a light kiss on the forehead.

Draco went bright red and Harry surreptitiously handed him another handkerchief. Draco applied himself to the chess board quite quickly. Harry saw Ronald pat Draco on the arm comfortingly.