Especially Our Enemies

They figured out that my heart had stopped, much like a cardiac arrest. The young wizard trained in Muggle medicine, whose name turned out to be Aronson, pumped me full of something called streptokinase. Then he put me to bed.

I faded in and out of consciousness, lying on a cot in the Lost Ones’ warren. With no windows I couldn’t tell how much time had passed. No one came in, at least not while I was awake.

I did not dream.

Finally, there was a sharp knock at the door.

“Yeah?” I answered, trying to raise my head.

Percy came in and sat down on the edge of the desk in the corner.

“We need you,” he said.

“Why?”

“We’re deciding what to do with Malfoy.”

“And you need me?”

“You’re the only one who can tell us what happened in there.”

“What about Chaz?” I asked.

“He doesn’t remember anything,” Percy sighed.

“Doesn’t remember acting like he was possessed?” I sat up slowly.

“Nothing at all until Hermione came in.” Percy rubbed his beard noisily. “Not even how he got to the museum. The last thing he remembers is walking down to Hagrid’s hut last night.”

“Can I see him?”

“Sure,” Percy said. He got up and walked out of the room. I slipped back into unconsciousness.

“Dad?”

I opened my eyes.

“Hey, kid,” I said weakly, struggling to sit back up. Percy helped me. “Could you leave us alone for a minute?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Are you going to be alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” I said. Chaz came to the bedside. “So you don’t remember anything?”

“I did a memory charm on myself,” he said softly.

“Why?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Care to speculate?” I asked, pushing his hair out of his face.

“Something happened that I didn’t want to remember, maybe.”

“That’s probably it,” I said.

He looked away shyly.

“What’s going to happen now?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted.

“Can I go back to school?” He looked so hopeful.

“I don’t know about that either.”

“What’s going to happen to Professor Malfoy?”

“You ask a lot of questions,” I said, smiling. Chaz smiled back timidly. “I don’t know what will happen to Malfoy. He killed a lot of people today.”

“They said he wasn’t in control, that Voldemort was controlling him.”

“That’s true.”

“I’ll make sure they don’t forget it,” I told him. “Where’s your mom?”

“She went to get Amelia and Eleanor from Grandma and Grandpa’s house. She’ll be back soon.”

“Okay.” Percy tapped at the door and I gestured for Chaz to let him in.

“Chaz, we need to talk to your dad. Can you go wait with Professor McGonagall?” Chaz nodded and left the room.

“Minerva’s here?”

“Arrived about twenty minutes ago.”

“How long have I been in here?”

“About six hours. She would have come sooner, but she was overseeing the transportation of the students.”

“So they all got home okay.”

“All except yours,” he said, smiling. “But that will be remedied soon enough.”

“He said he obliviated himself.”

“That’s what we figured. Like father, like son.” Percy smiled. “Now, if you can, I need you to come with me.”

He had to call in another wizard to help me. I hadn’t felt that weak since I woke up in the hospital after my Quidditch injury. They half-carried me back to the conference room.

“Good,” Jordan said. “Ron will agree with me.”

That raised a few murmurs.

“Agree with you about what?” I asked, as they helped me into a chair.

“I think we should eliminate him and be done with the whole thing,” he said.

“We’re divided down the middle,” Penelope said.

“What do you think, Ron?” Percy asked. “You’ve gotten to know him.”

“Now that Voldemort no longer has control of him, he can make his own decisions,” I said.

“But what will he decide?” Corner had his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

“We can’t just dispatch him,” I protested.

“He’s a prisoner of his own conditioning,” Percy said. “Like a pit bull trained for dog fighting. He’ll never be a good pet.”

“Are you saying you want us to let him live?” Jordan asked. “After everything he’s done?”

“Have you ever done anything that you regret?” I asked him, looking into his eyes. Jordan’s lip trembled and he looked away. “We used him as a pawn, played with his mind. I think that makes us responsible for at least part of what he is.”

“What would we do with him?” Percy asked. “Hypothetically, I mean.”

“Let him go back to teaching Defense,” I suggested. “He liked it, and he was very good at it.”

“Ron’s got a point,” Penny said. “Who are we to trade in people’s lives? And at Hogwarts, we can keep an eye on Malfoy.”

“We did lose track of him for a long time while he was wandering,” Percy said. I could see he was beginning to agree with me.

“The thing about letting someone live is that you can always kill them later,” I told him. “But when you kill a man, there’s no going back.”

“Tell that to Malfoy,” someone muttered from the back. A few people laughed, and Percy glared. The chucklers fell silent.

“We can’t leave him out much longer,” he said. “Have we decided to let him live?”

“I think so,” Penny said.

“What are we going to tell him this time?” Jordan asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“We’ve never let him out of here without altering his memories,” Percy said.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough to him?”

That got them quiet. No one said anything for several minutes.

“Alright,” Percy said finally. “Someone go wake him up.”