What Shakes The Elephant

What Shakes The Elephant

Chapter 52 – Why Do You Sing Hallelujah?

The whole world suddenly became an inconstant blur around him. The dizziness had subsided and the pain dissipated to be replaced with pure rage. Nothing would stop him now. Lord Voldemort himself could rise up from the grave and attempt murder on him and he would not be barred from his goal. Draco was being driven by something more powerful than the Unforgivable curses, more powerful than hatred and more powerful than high blood pressure: fear for his son’s life.

And adrenaline. It helped.

They say that fear is restrictive. They say it is the only thing standing in the way of achieving one’s highest potential. Those people who have said that have never had their son kidnapped by their maddened and murderous ex-wife. They simply don’t know the true power of fear and what it can make you accomplish.

Draco flew from his bed and found himself dressed and running towards the lift, dragging Harry along with him. Apparition inside St. Mungo’s had been halted because of the danger it posed to the patients and was, consequently, barring Draco’s speedy appearance at Hogwarts. Harry had not taken a moment to comment or think but followed the blond along his way as fast as he could.

They urged the lift along, ignoring the Healers on the way that demanded he return to bed. Draco had his wand out and ready to attack anyone who dared do more than demand. Harry, it seemed, was just as willing with his wand out.

They burst through the front doors of the hospital and Draco immediately grabbed onto Harry and Apparated them to the space just outside the school grounds. There was no time for words or plans. Draco was not used to this kind of acting. He was a planner. He did not simply act on instinct. Harry, however, had spent his entire life acting on impulse and so Draco imagined that he wouldn’t have to worry about the other man too much.

As they pushed through the iron gates and practically flew across the grounds, Draco couldn’t help but think to himself about the whole situation. Something was off. Something was terribly off about it all.

How did Hydra escape from Azkaban? He knew she was powerful and largely unaffected by the guards there but she had still spent the last few months as a captive, had she not? If she had been able to escape this whole time, why had she chosen this moment to act? Why not earlier? What had she been waiting for?

And why the fuck did she kidnap Harry’s children?

Draco clenched his jaw and ran faster. Harry did not fall behind at all and stayed at his side, probably even more angry than Draco was. Why shouldn’t he be? Not only were two of his children abducted but they had no actual relation to Hydra. They hadn’t done anything at all and they weren’t involved with Draco. What reason did she have for taking them?

The oak front doors opened themselves for Draco and Harry as they rushed into the school and found themselves standing in front of Headmistress Sinistra. They stopped and took a moment to breathe but Draco had not put away his wand. He wanted to be ready.

“What happened?” he asked harshly, his hair disheveled around his face as he stared at her. She did not look comfortable at all.

“Please, follow me to the Hospital Wing and I’ll explain on the way,” she said hesitantly. Draco did not appreciate having to wait even a moment to get the full details. There was no time. Hydra was insane and she would just as soon murder her own son in cold blood if it meant that she could do harm to Draco. He couldn’t see why she would care that much, but he didn’t care. He just needed to find her.

“Tell us what’s going on,” Harry demanded without a hint of patience. His voice was even more dangerous than Draco’s and, as they walked, he could see Sinistra’s thin frame shiver slightly under its power.

“Scorpius and James had a small row earlier today,” she explained, her voice strained and her composure faltering. “At breakfast. It was no bigger than their previous battles, but James approached the Slytherin table once Scorpius and Albus had seemed to finish eating. The teachers present could not account for what was said but the two boys suddenly drew their wands.” Draco’s heart beat harder in his chest and his breathing was rapid. He wanted to know how they had gotten kidnapped; how Hydra had infiltrated the school, not how they came to be in the hospital wing. “Somewhere amidst their quarrel, Scorpius suddenly lost consciousness. The teachers brought him to see Madam Promfrey immediately so that she might care for him. James and Albus followed behind.”

She paused again, looking for words, it seemed or perhaps waiting for prompting. They were nearly at the Hospital Wing and Draco would have none of this delay. Something was wrong and he had a sinking feeling about the whole matter.

“Get on with it,” Harry urged angrily. She swallowed hard.

“Madam Pomfrey allowed the visit,” Sinistra went on quietly. “James seemed to be genuinely guilty for what had happened and wished to apologize. The truth was, however, that their little battle could not, in itself, have caused Scorpius to faint. James could not have been responsible for it. But as Albus sat next to his friend, he fought verbally with his brother.”

Draco was becoming more and more irritated with every passing moment. What did this have to do with Hydra? What was she getting at?

“Did Madam Pomfrey step in?” Harry asked, feeling equally as irritated as Draco was.

“She was not in the room for their exchange of words,” Sinistra explained. “She had left to retrieve a potion to administer to Scorpius Malfoy. The moment she returned, they were gone.”

“WHAT?” Draco found himself yelling. “And no one saw anything? There was no one else there to watch? None of the wards on the school shifted, nothing??”

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Malfoy,” Sinistra said much too quickly. Draco was struck by something in her eyes. He shut his mouth and studied her.

“You have no idea who did this?” Harry asked, disbelieving. She shook her head.

“We imagined you would,” she explained. “This is the bed Scorpius was occupying.”

She showed them a small area of the wing. The simple hospital bed was not much altered except that the sheets were mussed and pulled back. There was a glass sitting on the side-table that was knocked over, its contents spilled. There was one chair that had been overturned and yet nothing else. No sign that three boys had ever been here. In fact, for all the evidence, an clumsy house-elf could have simply tripped himself over the chair and knocked over the glass.

There was nothing.

Draco was becoming increasingly frustrated. No one saw anything in the school at all. There could have been mass murders throughout the grounds and, judging from the way she was acting now, the Headmistress wouldn’t have even known something was wrong until it was too late.

He ran his fingers distractedly through his hair and stared at the scene before him. Harry was shaking and tense next to him. He wished, in that moment, that Harry had not become his friend. He wished that Harry didn’t love him and that Albus Severus had never become friends with Scorpius because then, maybe, they wouldn’t also be victims of his mad wife’s antics.

“You don’t know anything?” Harry asked roughly. He was walking around the bed. “You are Headmistress of this school and you can’t even guess at who is responsible?”

There was a cut in his voice that was meant to intimidate Sinistra. She gave him a hard look and crossed her arms. Draco ignored her for a moment and took a closer look at the spilled liquid.

“Mr. Potter,” she said defensively. “I have hundreds of students to worry about and take care of on a daily basis, not to mention staff and parents to deal with. I, along with every member of this staff, do everything I possibly can to protect them but accidents happen.”

“You think our sons getting kidnapped was an ACCIDENT?” Harry yelled gripping his wand tightly. Draco sniffed at the liquid on the table and then something hit him. There was a small candy ball on the floor under the bed.

“I don’t suppose it would surprise you to hear that my ex-wife, Hydra, is responsible?” Draco asked turning very slowly to the Headmistress. She looked as passive as possible but she was standing stiff.

“Hydra?” she asked oddly. “She’s in prison, is she not?”

“She escaped yesterday,” Draco explained, his blood on the verge of boiling. “But you already know that. At least, a good Headmistress would know what the headline in the paper this morning was.”

He was threatening her without threatening her and she could feel it. She was glaring back at him with cold black eyes and refusing to buckle under his anger. Draco couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t take it in and yet it was the only explanation. The adrenaline pumped faster through his veins and he clenched his wand.

“You and Karkaroff were once close,” Draco went on without asking a question. Harry was looking back at forth between them as he tried to figure out the link that Draco had made. “Karkaroff was very close to Viktor’s family. Viktor Krum. You remember him. Surely you haven’t forgotten. He is, of course, your nephew.”

Her eyes widened very slightly.

“What does that have to do with anything?” She asked harshly. Draco was advancing on her and she, unknowingly, was retreating.

“Viktor is Hydra’s brother and you know that perfectly well,” Draco told her, his voice getting louder and angrier. “She’s your niece and your favourite one, at that.”

Harry cued in at that moment and his face was livid. Draco hadn’t seen him that angry since… well he might never have seen Harry that livid. The other man began to advance on her as well.

“Hydra was not welcome at Hogwarts,” Harry went on, maneuvering around her. “The wards of the school would not have allowed her entrance. Not with the special devices that Professor McGonagall had set up after the final battle. And surely the likes of you aren’t powerful enough to dispel them or alter them. She would have needed to be escorted in by one of the staff.”

“I don’t appreciate the tone you two are using with me,” she said as harshly as possible but it came out rather meek. Draco was furious.

“You let her in!” Draco bellowed, raising his wand to her. Harry was standing right behind her, holding her there in the same fashion. “Not only that but you helped her kidnap our sons!!”

“I don’t know what you –” she began but Draco would not let her speak.

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” he screamed, advancing further. “Our children are not stupid! Even if Scorpius was unconscious, Albus Severus and James would never have willingly gone with Hydra! They would have put up a fight and this hospital would be more damaged than it currently is. SOMEONE would have heard them!” She was glancing around her and noticed quickly that Harry had blocked her only escape. There was no way out and she was trapped in more ways than one.

“How should I have helped her then?” she asked, panicked and uncomfortable. “Do you think they would have trusted her if I told them to?”

Draco was holding his wand to her neck now and his eyes were flashing with murder and hatred. He could not believe this. He wanted to make her suffer for what she had done. She wasn’t even admitting it when she had no other recourse.

“Don’t play me for a fool,” he warned harshly. “You gave her a Shifting Sucker from Weasley Wizard’s Wheezes. She turned herself into Madam Pomfrey or someone else they would trust. And she gave them a sleeping draught! They wouldn’t have taken a potion from anyone but a teacher or Madam Pomfrey.”

“That’s absurd –” she began again, trying to brush off the idea.

“I smelled it in the glass!!” he screamed out more violently. “I warned you, Sinistra. I’m better at this than Hydra is and I’m certainly better than you are.”

She stopped denying it and stood stalk still, glaring back at him. She made a move for her wand but it was gone. Harry was holding it up with a vicious smirk on his face. Draco tried not to let his anger get the best of him. He tried desperately not to strangle her or curse her into oblivion because she was the only lead they had at the moment.

“Hydra is my niece,” she said smoothly. “And blood is thicker than water. She wanted her son back. She said that you had betrayed her with Potter and that she wanted to save the children from you. Family beats out everything else, Draco.”

He nearly strangled her on the spot.

“You aided in the kidnapping of three innocent children,” he told her, his rage filtering into his words. She cringed under the power of his voice. “You handed them over to a mad woman. She tried to murder me and my father! She let a Basilisk run loose in my house and endangered Scorpius’ life! This isn’t about him, you half-witted bitch, this is about me! She’ll kill him to make me pay! And it will be on YOUR hands!”

The look in her eye changed suddenly. She seemed more fearful now. Her guilt was getting the best of her. Harry pushed the tips of the wands he was carrying into her back and Draco pressed harder against her neck.

“Hydra is my niece,” she repeated weakly.

“And Scorpius is my son,” he retorted with disgust. “Tell me where she took them and I won’t actually kill you.” He glanced at Harry. “But I can’t vouch for Harry. You are the reason his children are in the hands of a madwoman. If any one of them is harmed, you will pay the full price for it, I promise you.”

“Did we mention that Draco may be the next Minister of Magic?” Harry asked with a hint of a threat. Her pupils dilated and she whimpered softly.

“She took them to a small ruined castle her family once owned near Norfolk,” she whispered. “She was going to take them back to Bulgaria with her when she got the chance.”

“Why did she take my sons?” Harry demanded quickly. She looked to the side quickly.

“She didn’t intend to,” Sinistra explained. “But Albus and James refused to leave when we told them to. Albus continued to argue that he needed to be with Scorpius when he woke up and James agreed. He needed to apologize. He needed to make things right, he said. Little fools. If they had gone when told to they wouldn’t be gone now.”

Harry knocked her in the back of the head with his elbow and cast a body bind on her with her own wand. His glared down at her motionless body and nearly spat. Draco watched him carefully.

“No one calls my sons fools.”

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A/N: Yep Sinistra is partly responsible. I, naturally, took liberties with her family and everything. No information that states otherwise means I can play as I choose! Bahaha! Yes. And Yes. So I hope you liked it! It’s almost done now! Not too much to go really. I’m excited about finishing it 8D

Thanks for all the love and support! And thank you SO much to SoftObsidian74 for the rec!! Love and hugs to you all! Happy Halloween to everyone too, since I won’t be able to post tomorrow!

I hope you all have a scary, magic-filled night! 8D