One's True Nature

Ones’ True Nature


Chapter 4

Harry was glum as he set his things on the dusty bed in the run down inn. They had left Theodore Nott's body in front of Malfoy's home and Ron had done a masterful job at taking care of it. Harry could only imagine what the prophet would have said on the matter. Draco was another story however, he was quiet and kept to himself unless invited to contribute to Harry's ideas on where to find Goyle and the rest of the Death Eaters. Harry didn't understand Draco's lack of action at all, this was his son after all and Harry found the man's attitude or lack of enthusiasm disappointing.

He looked at the surroundings and thought of many worse places they could have stayed, his many undercover operations with Ron had always meant he looked forward to his warm bed at home with Ginny. He never slept much on these kinds of investigations either, always afraid that he might miss his window to catch a dark wizard or criminal that would break down a syndicate. He felt himself oddly distracted by Draco on this particular fact finding adventure. He had watched the man for the last three days since they had come to the Chidyre city, where Harry could hopefully track some information. He knew even for Goyle, coming to Chidyre was a must for anyone up to something. However, he couldn't concentrate with Draco being so, well, down.

He had watched him in pure curiosity the first day. He was calm, but very contained and didn't speak many words except to acknowledge Harry's presence or questions. Draco didn't really sleep despite trying to give Harry the feeling that he was. The swollen puffy dark circles spoke volumes, but it was his walk that bothered Harry the most. Draco had grabbed a gray traveling cloak and a long knotted branch with a crudely fashioned handle that made it look like an old man's walking staff. He watched Draco's walk, it looked burdened, broken, he found himself unable to accept that this man, a man who had once carried himself with such deep pride and snobbery that Harry had hated him, seemed unable to bear the weight of his own shoulders.

He didn't speak with Draco until he got out of his shower and looked at Draco across the room. The man stared at his feet in some form of deep concentration. Harry shook off this notion and spoke.

"We should get some dinner at the pub." Harry said as he started to dress not caring if Draco saw.

"Alright." Draco replied in an almost empty breath. Harry swung his own plain black cloak over himself and pulled up the hood, this would be the third night he and Draco had spent time at the pub trying to track down someone who might know about what happened. Harry was sure that if it did come up, the information would be legit since part of Ron's staying behind was to make sure this didn't get out.

Harry walked behind Draco and locked their room up after checking to make sure he had his wand in the best possible position in his robes should he need to draw it. He hated dealing with the people here, common scum and career criminals, but part of him knew it was necessary and part of him liked the looks of fear he could elicit when he didn't wear his hood up. He walked behind Draco, looked at his almost crippled way of walking, afraid that the man might fall at any moment and be seriously hurt. Luckily the pub was not too far down the road from the inn, the smell of food and tobacco smoke drawing them in.

Harry again checked for his wand as they entered the pub. Draco didn't say a word but sat on a free stool at the bar and ordered a drink so quietly that Harry was surprised when the barkeep responded and brought him his usual Fire Whiskey. Harry took a hard look around the room. He wanted to make sure that no one could ambush him, he could tell from Malfoy's state that he'd be no help if some form of fight did break out. He was satisfied that he could keep track of the crowd after a few passes with his eyes hidden under the shadow of his black hood. He sat next to Malfoy and ordered his own food.

They sat there in silence and Harry caught himself watching Draco out of the corner of his eye. Then soon it became long stares of curiosity. If Draco had sensed them, he made no mention to Harry about it as he picked at a plain turkey sandwich that didn't look very inviting to Harry. They must have been there an hour or so when a rather loud group of poorly kept wizards entered the pub and Harry looked at them with curiosity.

Harry knew the man in the center of the group as Tyyran. A man who had avoided a sentence in Azkaban for performing dark magic on muggles, by selling out all of his accomplices. He was surprised the man was still alive to tell the truth. Harry winced at the fact that his worn and very dirty features reminded him of his godfather before he'd been freed from Azkaban. He turned back around so as not to draw attention to himself. He saw that Draco seemed to be lost in his own thoughts at the moment.

Harry sat and ordered another drink as a courtesy to the barkeep. He knew the man, he was an ex-auror, quit when someone questioned his methods and ruined a few of his most difficult cases because of it. Harry had learned a great deal from him on how to survive deep cover operations. As he was thinking of all his connections to this place over the last few years, the men, now seated behind him were speaking loudly and laughing.

"Did you see in the prophet that that Malfoy fella has got a chance in the polls?" One said chuckling.

"Nah, they don't much like his kind do they, the ministry and all them?" Another said a wicked grin on his lips.

"He's got more to worry about than that from what I heard." Tyyran said with a deep sense of satisfaction on his lips.

Harry listened hard. He eyed Draco with a sideways glance, he was saying something to his plate, his features strained, but unreadable.

"Heard some of his old friends came knocking for him." Tyyran's words were cold and slimy. "They took his boy. From what I heard, he's got no friends or nothin'. They'll probably just kill the kid. They said he's just been crying the whole time askin' for his mommy."

Suddenly Harry became very aware of Draco when the man thumped his staff with a loud bang on the wood of the floor. Harry had thought that meant Draco would get up, but then the staff shook violently as if it was rocking on ice. Then Harry saw that Draco's entire left arm was shaking violently. He watched in shock as the man let the staff drop with a clatter onto the floor and cradled his arm as if gravely injured. He was too shocked to do anything as he saw Draco's face give a deep look of distress.

"Don't please, not here." Draco's voice was weak, his arm seemed to make his whole body shake violently now.

"Fuck!" Then the room, now fully focused on the man who'd made the ruckus saw the man's skin erupt in red and gray magic. It pushed outward from his skin and shattered several mugs and moved tables. Draco tried in vain to contain his magic, but Harry could see he was losing his grip completely now as the pulses that burst from his body became more solid and destructive.

Harry grabbed his wand and went with the only idea that came to him. He didn't like the idea, but he didn't have much choice seeing how Draco's magic was already this violent, he doubted he could risk attempting to grab him physically. He muttered a Dark Arts spell he'd learned while on a mission in Scotland, he only hoped that Draco's magic would not react negatively to it. He pointed the wand at the right side of his head just at the side of his eye.

His pupils turned completely dark as a starless sky and then, as he felt them burn into Draco's head, he gave a command. 'Sleep' Harry stood up instantly as he felt Draco's mind disconnect itself from reality for sleep. He pulled the man against him and then picked him up the way one might a woman who had fainted to carry her to her room. Harry used his magic to push off his hood and reveal his identity. Several gasps were heard as he eyed them all, still with fully darkened pupils.

"I have to see to my friend here." Harry said commanding respect with his tone. "However, none of you are in interest to me, you may go." He turned now, Draco's limp form draped in his arms. "Except you, Tyrran." Harry muttered a spell and Tyyran gave a yelp as a chain of magic clasped his wrist. "You will not leave until I return." Harry turned again, this time to the barkeep. "Sorry Gaudin." He said gently. "Send me a bill will you?" Harry smiled and then turned to look at his captive as the people had poured out leaving just the man of Harry's interest looking put off. "Watch him, if he moves, hurt him." Then with no more words, he walked from the pub back to the hotel with Draco now pressed against his chest.

To say Harry was shocked by this display would have only been half true. He'd seen wizards and witches who lost control of their magic like that before. He had been on a few assignments where particularly powerful people had to be detained in St. Mungo’s. When someone lost control like that, it almost always had to do with some form of mental anguish that remained uncured. He at least understood part of Malfoy's actions that last few days, he must have been fighting his own magic from escaping. He looked down at the vulnerable form of Draco Malfoy in his arms and couldn't begin to guess at the man before him, the boy he knew was long gone.

When he got Draco to their room, he laid the man down and took the spell off of his eyes. He blinked in pain, he'd have a nasty headache for a few hours now, but it was better than letting a whole pub get destroyed. He sat on the bed, not willing to let Draco wake up alone and possibly disoriented from the sudden attack on his mind. Harry watched the man sleep, sitting on his own bed. It was early enough in the evening that Gaudin wouldn't feel to put out if he had to keep Harry's suspect occupied.

Draco woke about forty-five minutes later and didn't look very rested. He looked at Harry, who stared back, but almost through him as if he held a universe of knowledge in his head. He sat up and squinted, rubbing his eyes.

"What happened Potter?" He asked knowing full well the answer as his brain checked in that it remembered. He didn't wait for Harry to respond. "My magic, it got out of control-" Draco gulped forcing fear down at Harry's stone expression, his hands pressed together at his fingertips as Dumbledore might do. Draco didn't find this comforting however, he felt like Harry was judging him. "I should have told you-" Draco sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed and now shared the same position as Harry, as if they were mirror opposites.

"I'm crazy Potter." Draco had no wish to fight the truth. Harry might as well know, it didn't matter now, only his son mattered. He swallowed again. "I mean, I have terrible nightmares about You-Know-Who and my life during those-" He closed his eyes and shivered. Harry watched, his gaze unreadable, but attentive. "I got treatment in France when these attacks started happening. I couldn't go anywhere in Britain, people knew of my past, they would've refused to help, but I knew I was too dangerous to keep-" He cut himself off again. "My wife she was my nurse there, she helped me, but now she-" He was shaking again. Harry kept alert. "I don't have a way of controlling this Potter." His face screwed up in frustration.

"Why do you still carry the mark?" Harry's words caught Draco by surprise.

"What?" Draco's jaw slacked.

"We can remove the mark. Why do you still have it, don't you think people would be more likely to help you if you didn't carry the mark?" Harry's expression remained impassive, his fingertips touching.

"It helps me remember them." Draco's eyes fell to his feet.

"Who?"

"The people I helped kill, the brother and sister." Draco's face screwed up in great pain.

"Tell me." Harry's words were warm and coaxing, oddly, he thanked Hermione for suggesting he take some psychology and counseling as part of his training, he began to employ some of the basics here, with his old rival.

"It was just after You-Know-Who took the ministry." Draco's breathing became tense and Harry increased his alertness. "I was ordered to go with Yaxley and his gang to hunt mudbloods. I didn't want to go, but I, I knew that he wouldn't let me skip out on another assignment, so I did my best to stay out of the way. I didn't kill anyone, not really." Draco sucked in his breath and tried to relax his tenseness. "We were in a park and the mudbloods and muggles were running as the Death Eaters swarmed." Harry thought he heard Draco choke back a sob. "Well, it was a shock when someone shot magic at us through some trees and hit some of us." Draco adjusted uncomfortable as he continued, looking at his feet. "They were yelling at me, asking who did it. I was frightened, I didn't know what I should do, so I just pointed."

Harry didn't like where this could be going, but Draco had to be the one to stop it. He watched the man who now rested his head in his hands and was weeping, deeply and sorrowfully. "God, I didn't know they were children, I didn't know." Draco's pleas were like knives of guilt in Harry's chest. Draco was yet another victim that he, Harry, hadn't saved. "They were a sister and brother. I can't take it off, I can't forget them. I didn't know."

Draco was in such full blown hysterics when Harry stood up and approached the bed that he didn't even jump at the feel of Harry's arms slipping around him, pulling him into a hug.

"I should have helped you, you were innocent, I should have done more. I am so sorry Draco." Harry knew he couldn't hear him, because Draco continued sobbing into his chest.

"They were just children, I didn't know."

"You were innocent."

Harry didn't know how long he stood there with Draco hugging him, but it felt like forever. He had someone to see now. So he gently coaxed Draco to drink a sleep potion. He had some guilt to expunge and a suspect to heap it on, it was time to play the game of bad auror. A man's sanity and a boy's life hung in the balance.