Highly Spirited

Summary: Chapter 5: Down to Business--------What Harry Didn’t Know
Warning(s): See Chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimer. I still don’t own anything.

Chapter 5 – Down to Business

Draco glared at the wrecked bed and back to his husband. “That’s it, Harry. We’re leaving tomorrow.” He began to march up the stairs, swirling his robe around him dramatically

“Oh, no, no, no, my dear man,” Albus pleaded as he sat up on the now plaster-covered bed. “Just give the poor ghosts a little more time.”* He brushed plaster pieces off his robes as he stood up.

“We’re history, dude,*” said one of the Weasley children, which caused Albus to glare at the tyke as if he were a demon. He quickly looked back at the rest of the group with a placating expression. “Can’t we look at tonight as sort of a dress-rehearsal?*” he asked as he stepped off the bed and back onto his feet.

“You’re finished, Dumbledore,” an irate Bill yelled, his face turning a fiery red, matching his hair. He stormed over to Albus. “I’m going to personally expose this pathetic fraud! There are laws against people like you!”* Bill thrust his finger in Albus face. He turned and stormed back towards the rest of the group. “Come on, Fleur. We’re leaving!*” Bill and his family headed back up the stairs, stalking past Draco who looked as if he was in a decided snit as he waited for Harry, who had been slowly climbing the steps behind him.

Minerva walked towards Albus and put a hand on his slumped shoulder. “Maybe Lucius Malfoy will give us another chance, Albus,” she said hesitantly.

Harry stopped on the step and turned to look at Albus and the rest of the staff. “Lucius Malfoy?” he asked.

“Harry…” Draco whined, tugging on his sleeve. He ignored Draco, “What does Lucius Malfoy have to do with this?*”

Minerva squared her shoulders back but admitted with a sad tone, “Lucius Malfoy holds the mortgage to this place.” The heavy make-up she had applied earlier was now smeared across her face. “We only have two weeks to come up with the mortgage payment and then he’s going to throw us out.”

Draco looked down at his slippered feet during the woman’s statement. He then took a deep breath and tugged on Harry’s arm again. “Harry, I’m very tired. I’d like to go back to bed now.”

Without looking at him, Harry began to respond, “Just wait a...*”

“Now!” Draco insisted in a commanding voice as if fully expecting Harry to obey.

Harry turned to Draco. “Wait a minute!*” Harry said in a raised voice. Draco jerked back in surprise. Harry stepped down towards Albus. “Mr. Dumbledore, what exactly is going on here?*”

Albus stopped gazing at the floor pathetically and looked up at his interrogator. “So we told a lie,*” he said, the smell of alcohol reaching Harry’s nose as he neared the old man. He looked at Harry for a moment, then seemed to gather his courage to face everyone else. “Everyone lies once in a while. So Minerva isn’t a Banshee, and Poppy still has her head, and Filius isn’t a mummy, and the castle isn’t haunted...but what of it? What you have to ask yourself is - why did we do it? We did it because we love this place. Every little worm eaten brick, every little rotting nook and cranny. Why should you people care if I lose my home, Castle Hogwarts. And why should you care if the villagers lose one of their only means of employment.”* He sounded quite discouraged.

Minerva reached up and wiped a small tear off of Albus’ cheek. “Thank you, Minerva, my dear.*” He smiled sweetly at her and patted her hand.

Draco stormed down to Harry and grabbed his arm to pull him away. “Harry, let’s go to bed,*” he insisted. Harry took a step with Draco and then pulled back to look at Albus once again. “I care, Mr. Dumbledore.*” Draco huffed and continued up the stairs without Harry.

“What?” asked Albus.

“I care,” Harry stated. "Lucius Malfoy is my father-in-law, so I’m involved in this,” he answered.

Poppy pointed at Draco accusingly. “You’re Lucius Malfoy’s son?” The rest of the staff took several menacing steps towards him. Draco turned to face them all with his haughtiest expression. “Yes, yes, I’m Lucius Malfoy’s son,” he admitted in that rich, aristocratic tone that now seemed so familiar. Each staff member took several more steps towards him as Draco backed up the stairs. “I might as well tell you that there won’t be any extensions on your mortgage. I mean, not after tonight’s performance,”* Draco informed them.

Harry interrupted from below them. “I don’t believe this,” he said incredulously, looking past the staff and at his husband.

Draco looked down the stairs at Harry as if to explain it directly to him. “Father asked me to check it out. I mean, this whole ghost business is just too ridiculous,”* he explained to Harry with a slight nervous laugh. Draco almost stepped back onto the hem of his robe which caused him to stumble.

“So you came to sabotage us, did you?*” Albus asked with his arms crossed.

Draco smirked. “No, no, no, you did that perfectly well all on your own.”

There was complete silence in the hall for a few uncomfortable moments as they stared at Draco. He shifted anxiously from one leg to the other. “Well, Harry, are you coming to bed?*” He stared at Harry for a second then at the others, then quickly spun around and headed to the top of the stairs without looking behind him again.

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he watched Draco leave, and he began heading up after him. A few steps up, he turned to the staff and addressed them. “Look, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I didn’t know.*” He seemed quite embarrassed. “For what it’s worth, I think this place is great.*” He shuffled a little nervously again and then pointed to Filius. “You’re the ghost mummy in the bedroom.*” He saw Minerva and snapped his fingers as he identified her. “You were the Banshee in the luggage rack.” The staff smiled weakly back at him and nodded. Harry shook his head and turned and headed up the steps.

“Draco…DRACO…”

Harry ran up the steps, following Draco the entire way yelling his name. He finally caught up to him in one of the long corridors to the room and grabbed Draco by both arms and pushed him against a stone wall.

“Wait a minute…” Harry started.

“Father wanted this place. He’s always wanted this place. My mother was born in Hogsmeade,” Draco began placatingly, “and he hates the Dumbledores.”*

“Why?*” Harry asked

Draco tossed his head back a bit. "Why not? Father hates most people,”* he added as if this were a perfectly normal thought process.

Harry’s face dropped a bit seeing Draco’s obvious attempt to pacify him. “So, you lied to me? You used our second honeymoon to…”*

“Harry, it’s business,*” Draco argued tiredly, rubbing his fingers against his temples.

“It’s business?*” Harry’s voice quivered in disappointment. He stared at his husband uncomprehendingly.

Seeing the look on Harry’s face, Draco rolled his shoulders back and stood taller. “Obviously, those are words you aren’t familiar with,*” he sneered with finality and then strode off, away from Harry. After a few meters, he reached the door to their room. Standing at the doorway, he turned around and waited for Harry to join him. Dejected, Harry headed towards Draco, but then as he neared the man, he too straightened up and walked right past him and continued down the hall.

Draco asked in a surprised tone, “Where are you going?*”

“To get drunk,*” Harry answered quietly.

----

An hour later found Harry and Albus at the bar huddled together over several empty bottles of Firewhisky.

“I don wantchu to lose your…hic…castle. Oh, my father-n-law isa bloody prat, he is.”* Harry had started slurring at least one bottle earlier.

“Oh my dear boy, you’re too kind. He’s a lovely combination of dungheap pile and a rat’s knackers,*” Dumbledore assured his drunken companion with a slight pat on his back.

Harry looked blearily up at him. “What’s a rat’s knackers?*”

Albus took another gulp before he answered, “It’s an unholy trinity of a muckraker, a gob of shite and a whore’s mouth.*”

Harry nodded in agreement. “The guy’s a prick,” he announced authoritatively.

“In a word,” Albus agreed. “Would you like a drink?*” He held the bottle out to Harry. Harry looked blearily at it and then dropped his head onto the bar.


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* Verbatim dialogue from the movie 'High Spirits'. * inside the quotation marks means just that sentence. Outside the quotation marks would indicate everything inside the quotation mark, not just the individual sentence.