A Lifetime of Looking

Title: A Lifetime of Looking
Author: Mania_regale
Archived: Also posted on my LJ; No archiving without prior permission of the author.
Summary: Draco\'s birthday ends in an encounter with aurors and an unexpected request for help.
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: HP/DM
Disclaimer: Characters and canon are the exclusive property and J.K. Rowling and her assignees. No money is being made from this endeavor.

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Within seconds of stepping out the back door of the club, the hazel eyed man had drawn a small object out of his pocket and stroked its length with a finger, feeling the familiar pull of a portkey.

He landed seconds later in the entry of his apartment where he allowed himself to sink briefly against the wall while images from the club played in his head. Shaking his head, he slowly pulled himself up and started down the hallway into the rest of the apartment. He had only gone halfway down the corridor when he stopped in front of a hall table. He carefully placed the portkey in the green ceramic bowl and looked up at his reflection in the mirror. Thankfully, the reflection didn’t talk back, as this was a muggle mirror, not a wizard one.

He sighed, knowing that if the mirror could talk, it would ask him what the hell he thought he was doing and why he was wearing that costume. Not having an answer to the first question, he at least knew that the costume was no longer needed and could be shed now that he was home.

Staring into the mirror, he gave a light shake to his head and watched as the hazel eyes suddenly burned emerald, and the short brown hair lengthened to his shoulders and turned jet black. He peered into the mirror at his forehead, hoping that this time the scar hadn’t reappeared. That was not to be however, and the tell-tale lightening bolt again graced his tanned skin. He could verily easily have morphed his forehead smooth, but that would only be an illusion. Others would not be able to tell, but he would know the truth. So for now, while he was alone, the scar stayed. If it ever actually disappeared, he wanted to know that it had occurred naturally, not because he willed it to.

His metamorphosis complete, he continued down the hall to his bedroom, where he casually tossed himself upon the bed and promptly fell asleep in his clothes.

***

Ron and Draco apparated into a large, windowless room which housed multiple conference tables, shelves overflowing with books and parchment, maps pinned to every available wall surface, and various muggle devices on rolling carts. Draco pulled his arm away from Ron and slowly turned his head to take in his surroundings.

“Where the fuck have you taken me?” he demanded. “What was with the auror freak show at the club?” he queried, his gray eyes flashing. “And, why in God’s name are the aurors looking for Saint Potter?”

“Later, Malfoy. I don’t have time to deal with you right now. If I don’t get back to the aurors at the ministry, they’ll start asking questions, and that won’t be good for any of us. I was only supposed to be at the club long enough to make sure there were no problems when the muggles came to.”

Draco just stared at Weasley, growing more furious by the minute at having his birthday invaded by aurors, being given cryptic instructions by the weasel of all people, and now being dragged to God only knows where with said weasel, only to find out that he was apparently being deserted here.

The glare Draco was giving Ron couldn’t be missed, and Ron figured he wasn’t getting out of there without at least a bit of explanation. “Look, ‘Mione will be here in a few minutes. No one except us can get in or out of here, so you’ll be fine. Ask her when she gets here.” With that, Ron apparated out of the room before Draco had a chance to stop him.

Groaning in frustration, Draco tried to apparate to his apartment, but quickly realized the weasel was right. The room had apparition wards in place, and it looked like he wasn’t going anywhere for the time being. He contemplated making an illegal portkey, but for all he knew he was in a room in the Ministry, and he didn’t think that would go over very well. Besides, at the very least, whatever was going on here had the potential to provide him with some amusement.

He started to wander around the room, initially intending to search for something that would tell him where he was. As he walked towards the wall closest to where he and the weasel had apparated into the room, he quickly became intrigued with the large map of the world that covered the entire wall. The map appeared to be full of red spots, but as Draco moved closer, he noticed that each spot was really a small red figure that appeared to be running in place on the map. Draco slowly reached out a pale, manicured finger and touched the figure, gasping slightly as the figure transformed into an arrow and script slowly appeared next to it. Leaning closer, Draco could just make out that the arrow was pointing to Madrid, Spain, and gave a date of the fifth of September, two years ago.

His curiosity peaked, Draco started moving along the wall, touching each of the red figures in turn. Paris, Glascow, New Delhi, San Francisco, Toronto, Melbourne, Copenhagen. Little red figures danced over each of these, as well as what seemed like hundreds of other places. The oldest date he found went back over six years ago, the most recent was almost eight months old.

Draco was still staring at the map when he heard a slight “pop” behind him, and he turned quickly to see Hermione Granger standing in the same place that he and the weasel had apparated to earlier. He looked over the mudblood, and was surprised to realize that she had apparently finally learned to control that frizzy mop of hair of hers. With a scowl appearing on his face, he thought “it only took her fifteen years!”

Hermione set a bag down on the table next to her with a loud thump, and Draco only then realized that she had been holding anything at all. He glared in her direction, his gaze issuing a silent challenge.

She had watched is appraisal of her with a touch of amusement, but the look on his face made it clear that he was waiting for her to speak first. As much as she might have enjoyed tormenting him at one time, now was not the time to do so.

“Draco,” she said, crossing the room towards him with her hand outstretched.

Trying to hide his shock, he took a half step forward and proffered his own hand for the briefest of handshakes before he quickly stepped back again without a word.

Hermione stepped back to the table and her bag where she started to remove black rectangular cases which she quickly carried to the trolley of muggle devices Draco had seen earlier. She looked back over her shoulder at Draco to find that he remained rooted in place.

“Well, come on now,” Hermione started. “I’m sure you want to know why you’re here, and you’re not getting any answers over there.”

Draco started at her business-like tone. As much as he thought he couldn’t care less what she and the weasel were up to, he did want some answers as to what it had to do with him. Draco slowly walked over to Hermione and folded himself in to a seat facing the trolley. From here he could see three televisions lined up, with a video player beneath each one. Hermione opened each case and placed the cassettes inside into each of the video players. Pressing a few buttons on each, the machines jumped to life with gentle whirring sound.

Hermione turned and faced Draco asking, “Have you seen the book?”

“What are you talking about? What book?”

Hermione shook her head. “Did Ron tell you anything?”

“I believe he decided that should be your job. Can we get on with the explanations? I think I’ve been quite patient thus far,” drawled Draco. Hermione didn’t miss the slightly veiled threat in the words – that Draco could certainly be very impatient if kept waiting much longer.

She rolled her eyes at Draco’s words and explained “We’re trying to find Harry before they do.”

“What a bloody brilliant explanation!” exclaimed Draco, sarcasm dripping from each word. “And who exactly is ‘we’ and ‘they’? Why do you have to find Saint Potter anyway? You and the weasel are his best mates. Surely you can’t mean for me to believe that you don’t know where he is or how to contact him?” As he spoke, Draco saw the flash of pain across her face and he realized that not only was she indeed saying that she didn’t know where Potter was, but she wasn’t lying about it – she really had no idea. Draco settled back into his chair. “Explain.”

Hermione flung herself into a chair of her won and closed her eyes before starting. “‘We’ is Ron, myself, and, er, certain others.” Draco raised a pale eyebrow at her obvious reluctance to provide the identities of the others. Not that he likely couldn’t guess. Dumbledore and McGonagall, he supposed. Probably some other of their classmates …

“‘They’ are Fudge, the ministry and the aurors.” Draco was startled out of his thoughts as she continued. “After the war, Harry decided he’d had enough of the wizarding world and dropped out of sight. For the first few months, he’d send one of us a postcard, but about six months later, those stopped entirely. Fudge has been looking for him since he left – he’s afraid of him because of how powerful he is. Fudge always thought he’d become Voldemort’s successor, or that he’d try to take over the ministry from Fudge. I’m not entirely sure which one Fudge thinks would be worse.” Shaking her head, she continued, “Fudge is trying to arrest him for some phony charges stemming from the war. They won’t stick, but we can’t let him get brought in before we get to him. Fudge has been crowing that he’ll make sure Harry can’t be a threat to anyone again.”

“So what of it? He gets arrested, charged and cleared. No big deal. You said yourself the charges wouldn’t stick. Are we through now?” Draco’s smirk had settled back into place. So they were going to arrest Potter. Who cares? It had nothing to do with him.

“It’s not the charges we’re worried about. The problem is that Azkaban can’t hold him, and Fudge knows it. That’s why Fudge hasn’t tried too hard to bring him in yet. He’s said for years that the was going to find a way to harness Harry’s power, and apparently he’s got it now. He’ll claim that it’s only a precation, that he has to take Harry’s magical abilities until after the trial so Harry can be put in Azkaban without fear of him escaping. Except afterwards, he’ll never give Harry his power back. Fudge wants it for himself, and he’ll leave Harry as a muggle.”

“And what are you going to change if you get to Harry first?”

“Fudge can be stopped – there’s a spell that will prevent the transfer of his power, but Harry would have to perform it before Fudge got to him. Since we can’t find Harry to warn him, if the aurors and Fudge get to him first it will be too late.”

“Where do I fit into this mess? Why should I care if Potter becomes a muggle?”

Hermione looked up at Draco before saying softly, “He’s not done yet. Only one of the prophesies is fulfilled.”

Draco’s eyes bore into Hermione’s face. “Only one?! How many are there?”

“Please, Draco, that’s not important right now. Anything else is a long ways off, but if Fudge gets to him now, it would change everything.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with me!” Draco replied as e crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt at looking aloof and defiant. In truth, he was curious and actually had nothing better to do at the moment, but that didn’t mean he was going to make it easy for them.

“The aurors think he was at that club tonight. We’re inclined to agree – and if so, this is the first sighting of him in over six months.” She noticed Draco’s eyes flick to the map spanning the long wall of the room. “Yes, those are all the known sighting of him since he disappeared.”

“Again, why am I involved? Because I happened to be at the club?”

“I don’t think anyone happened to be anywhere tonight. I think he was there because you were.” Draco’s eyes widenend and his lips parted slightly at the announcement.

“Am I in danger?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?! I’m not finding that very comforting.”

Hermione jumped up from the chair she was sitting in and drew her wand before turning on her heel to face the map. A flick of her wrist and a few whispered words and a second, translucent map appeared and attached itself to the top of the other. Where the other map had seemed to be covered in red dots, this map had green dots. Not as many as on the original map, but it did appear that for every green dot, there was a matching red mark on the map behind.

“See for yourself,” Hermione said, inclining her head towards the wall.

Draco stretched and moved towards the map, trying to appear nonchalant. As he had done earlier, he peered at one of the green dots that was really a figure, and as he touched it, the figure turned into an arrow and script appeared next to it, detailing a place and a date.

“So? It’s the same as the other map but in green, with fewer dots.”

“See how the two maps match? The red map is where Harry has been spotted. The green map shows places you’ve been that coincide with the sightings of Harry.”

“He’s stalking me?!” Draco looked outraged, and Hermione was beginning to think that perhaps bringing Draco here hadn’t been the best idea.

“I don’t know if I’d call it that…” Hermione’s voice trailed off as she saw that Draco was not soothed by this.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” Draco spat the question at Hermione, his anger apparent in the way his gray eyes were flashing.

“We were going to. It only started about a year ago, on your last birthday. But then it stopped six months later, and no one saw him again until tonight. Draco, if he had wanted to hurt you, he’s already had plenty of opportunities to do so.” Hermione’s voice pleaded with Draco to calm down. “We really need your help here. You’re the only one he’s making an effort to find at this point.”

“Hmmph.” Draco stood with his back to Hermione debating whether or not he should concede. She had a point. Harry hadn’t done anything up until now. He was going to have to think about this later. But for now, since he couldn’t get out of here without either her or the weasel’s assistance, he might as well find out everything he could at this point. “Didn’t you say something about a book earlier?” asked Draco as he turned to face Hermione.

“We need you to look at a book of pictures – all of the disguises that Harry’s been seen in. I want to know if you recognize any of them. We need to look at the security tapes from the club tonight for the same reason.” Hermione turned back to the row of televisions and pushed buttons on each video player, bringing black and white images to each of the three screens.

Draco crossed the room and settled again into a chair facing the screens.

“Why won’t they use color?” muttered Hermione as she waved her wand across the televisions causing the muted grays to be replaced with vibrant color. “That should make it easier.”

“So what are we looking for?”

“Harry. Each television shows a different view of the club. They are synchronized, so this is going to show the entire club at once.”

Hermione and Draco watched as two of the screens remained blank, but the third, which showed the bar, had a single patron and the barkeep in the picture. Draco continued to stare at the screens as Hermione made the scenes switch to later in the day, when more people had entered the club. Hearing a small pop, both of them turned and saw that Ron had arrived, still wearing his black auror uniform.

“Hey ‘Mione, Malfoy.” Somehow Ron couldn’t quite keep the sneer out of his voice as he addressed Draco. “Find anything yet.”

“Just getting started. Had to do some explaining,” Hermione answered. “Where do you think we should start?”

“Fast forward to whenever Malfoy got to the club. He may have looked up or something.”

“Him and the rest of the club,” snickered Draco. Ron rolled his eyes and pulled up the chair next to Hermione.

Two of the screens showed the bar and the tables against the wall of the club, while the third had a view of the front door. The three watched as Draco’s image appeared in the doorway and paused.

“Sure know how to make an entrance, huh Malfoy?” quipped Ron. “Stop those there, ‘Mione. Play them again, slowly, from the minute or to before Malfoy shows up.”

Hermione did as requested, and the three stared intently at the screens. “There!” screeched Hermione, pointing at the screen showing the bar. She rewound the tapes and started them again. “Watch, that man there.” Hermione pointed to a man sitting at the bar with empty stools on either side of him. As they watched, the man turned towards his right, towards the door. A moment later, the other screen showed Draco appearing. “See that? It looked like he knew to look at the door, that he knew Draco was about the enter the club.” Ron nodded his head, but Draco stared transfixed at the screen.

Silently, the three stared at the screen showing the man, who appeared rather plain and unremarkable. Exactly how you would want to look if you were trying to go unnoticed.

The silence was shattered by the simultaneous sharp intake of breath from all three of them. “His eyes,” Ron stammered. “They flashed green for a second.”

The tapes were again restarted, and they confirmed what Ron had articulated. As the man gazed towards the door of the club, his eyes had flashed green for a split second. That second was all Hermione and Ron needed to be sure that the man at the bar was Harry.

They let the tapes continue to play, and they saw Harry pull something from his pocket and get up, but he was then off camera. Cursing under her breath, Hermione went to stop the tapes but hesitated as Harry appeared again in the frame, this time leaning over the bar to speak with the barkeep and to pass him something. Although they couldn’t quite make out what it was, the object had looked silver. Ron felt like he was supposed to remember something, something that should have been triggered by that last scene, but try as he might, the thought was not forthcoming.

Draco however had no such problems, and as he watched Harry on the tape hand over the object to the barkeep, he reached in his own pocket and drew out the silver package with green ribbon that the barkeep had handed to him before he and the weasel left the club.

Ron and Hermione looked from the package to Draco and back to each other before Hermione said “Draco, could I see that?”

“Why? Should we open it?” asked Draco.

“Well, you probably should. It looks like Harry brought it for you and wanted you to have it. I just want to check the package and make sure it is spell free.”

Draco handed the silver object to Hermione, but couldn’t resist smirking as he said “I thought you were sure he didn’t want to harm me.”

A red blush started to creep over Hermione’s face as she replied “Better safe than sorry.” After waving her wand over the package a few times, she handed it back to Draco and pronounced it safe. “No magic on it at all it appears.”

Draco stared at the package in his hands, wondering if he should open it now or wait until he was alone. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why that thought had entered his mind, so he pushed it aside, and used a long finger to loosen the ribbon on the package. As the ribbon fell away, so too did the silver paper, leaving Draco holding a beautifully carved wooden box.

Looking the box over carefully, he noted the hinges and slowly drew back the lid, his eyes widening in surprise as he did so, and a soft “oohh” escaping his lips.