Shades of Truth

Shades of Truth

Chapter 7

*****

“Draco, can I ask you something?” Harry began as he set out his Pensieve and the memory he’d gotten from George. “Do you know what happened to the bodies of the people who died at Malfoy Manor?”

“What?” Draco blinked, clearly not expecting that question. “Do you mean, like Fleur or any of the other people my father killed there?”

“Yes, none of their bodies were recovered, so I was wondering.” Harry shrugged slightly, feeling foolish asking about something so morbid, but he’d promised George, and he really would do his best. “Does he burn them or something?”

“No, he puts them back.” Draco answered. “In the dungeons, way in the back ones on the bottom level. That way, they’re hard for people to find, but it gives the whole place that stench of death. And you can scare all the other prisoners by dragging a corpse past their cell.”

“That’s…rather twisted.” Harry grimaced. “Do you think they’re there right now?”

“Yeah, well the only people that really know their way around those cells are dead, except me.” Draco shrugged. “My mother never liked going down there.”

“I wonder why.” Harry shuddered. “If I get you out, will you take me? It’s just, if I could return the remains to the families, I think that would help…some of them.”

“Sure,” Draco shrugged, “though they’re probably pretty far gone by now.”

“It’s okay.” Harry nodded, “Are you ready to see this one?”

“Oh Merlin, we’re going to the Malfoy dungeons, aren’t we?” Draco scowled.

“I’m not sure where it happened. What does your memory say?” Harry asked him.

“In the front foyer. Though who knows if that’s true.” Draco shrugged, and they both plunged into the memory.

----------

Indeed they were in the Malfoy’s front foyer, and they heard a decent amount of noise as two redheads came in, running down the stairs with their wands out.

“We should split up,” the first twin told the one just behind him as they hit the ground floor and looked around, wands still at the ready. “This place is too damn big.”

“No, we should stick together, in case we run into a group.” The other argued, and the first nodded agreement before they burst into a sitting room, Draco and Harry following right behind them.

“Which is which?” Draco asked him urgently. “I can’t tell.”

“Neither can I.” Harry admitted. “If they do split up, we’ll have to as well, but it won’t do much good, since George can’t remember what happened to Fred if he wasn’t there for it.”

“Why are they here? I definitely don’t remember them just coming in my house. In my memory, they were brought in, and one escaped because he had cut the ropes holding him. He ran away, I killed the other.” Draco summarized. “Somehow, it’s a lot less disturbing to remember when I know it isn’t real.”

“Was it before?” Harry asked as they followed the Weasleys down a corridor where they entered almost every room, except the ones they couldn’t immediately gain access to.

“Gave me nightmares.” Draco admitted. “I know my father wanted to trick me into becoming used to killing, but I guess it just scared me to think I could do those things for no reason that I could possibly think of that would really justify it.”

“You’re a pacifist at heart, aren’t you?” Harry asked the other man.

“I guess, but it seems more like I’m a coward.” Draco told him.

“Don’t say that.” Harry turned to face him as they jogged behind the redheads. “I don’t think you give yourself the credit you deserve.”

“I don’t think I deserve much.” Draco told him honestly, and Harry’s only response was to twine their fingers as they watched the twins argue briefly about having reached a dead end. They decided swiftly to return the way they’d come and try the opposite side of the house when a cold voice interrupted their planning.

“Expelliarmus!” he neatly caught one of the two wands, and kicked the other one away so that they would have to pass him to reach it.

“Lucius Malfoy.” One of the boys spoke in a tone that showed none of the fear they must have been feeling. “We were just looking for you.”

“Well, well, guests in my house, and me caught unawares.” Lucius Malfoy had his wand trained on the two boys. “Come to avenge your sweet little sister? Or did you just want to hear me rhapsodize over how easily I killed her?”

“Let’s see how you handle the pair of us!” One twin leapt at him, apparently intent in just wrestling his wand away with sheer physical force. The other twin ran for the wand behind Lucius while he was busy trying to wrestle with his brother.

Possibly triggered by the physical attack, an odd alarm started blaring, and suddenly the corridor was full of Death Eaters. One twin had recovered his wand and was two feet from the nearest of the response force that had somehow come out of the doors of rooms that had been locked. Whatever had happened, it was clear that things were suddenly very much in the Death Eaters’ favor.

“Kill them!” Lucius shouted, and this inspired the twin he was tangled up with to yell instructions to his twin.

“Get out of here, George, please, I’ll distract them!”

“You can’t Apparate, boy, we’ve already put restrictions on the area!” one Death Eater laughed as George made an attempt to escape in the obvious way and failed.

“Did you think there’d be no security?” Malfoy laughed as he was able to throw Fred down with the help of another Death Eater. “Idiot Weasley! Now, die like your sister!” he turned first to Fred, who had given him so much trouble, and in a moment, a slash of his wand, and two words, it was over. One twin stared at the ceiling with eyes that would never see anything again.

“Fred!” George went berserk immediately. “FRED!!!” he screamed between cursing the Death Eaters around him so forcefully that they could do nothing to stop him, but they were still stopping him from reaching his brother. “FRED!!!” tears streaming down his face, George began cursing fast and without aim at all, causing a wall hanging to catch fire and cracking a section of wall heavily.

“Get him out of here before he tears my house down!” Lucius yelled at his underlings, most of which were dazedly trying to regain their feet. “Then kill him already!”

One lunged at George with a knife, and was able to chase him down the hall, the others followed and Draco and Harry tagged along. Suddenly, as though George remembered what his brother’s last words had been, he made an actual effort to escape, and after stabbing the Death Eater with his own knife, he fled completely, still screaming and sobbing.

“So that’s who killed Macnair.” Draco finally spoke after it was all over and they returned to Azkaban.

“I told George I’d try and get the body back.” Harry told Draco in a weary tone as he packed his things away with the other man’s help. “That’s why I was asking. He’s always asking where Fred is.”

“I can’t imagine…” Draco trailed off, and Harry knew what he meant. To be so strongly tied to someone that their death nearly killed you, that you could never live normally again afterward, it seemed impossible. But he supposed that every death of someone you cared for jarred your reality, changed you slightly, and this was just an extreme case of that.

“I’m talking to Hermione today.” Harry advised him, wanting to change the subject, to stop thinking about the Weasley twins and what had become of them. “If she agrees to help I may bring her back with me the next time I come.”

“Will it be long?” Draco asked. “Only you said you needed to do something different with a magical object.”

“Yeah, I could only find one surviving witness of Mad Eye Moody’s murder.” Harry explained. “His eye.”

“So you think…” Draco pondered the idea. “It’s a good idea. I hope it works. If anyone can get something out of that ball of glass, it’s her, though I don’t know if I’m ready to share our little meetings with someone else.”

“You’re joking, but it really has been something I look forward to.” Harry admitted, his face flushing deeply. “I mean, not the memory things, but…I guess I didn’t realize that I missed you, or how things would be between us when we were working together instead of opposing each other.”

His hand went to the side of Draco’s face, and for a long time the two men stared at each other without saying anything, but neither was brave enough to say or do anything for several minutes.

“I like it better this way.” Draco wasn’t sure if he was saying he liked meeting with Harry alone, or he liked working with him instead of against him, or that he just liked when Harry touched him. It didn’t matter, he realized, because really, he meant all of those things. “Don’t be too long. You’ve cursed me with hope, and it makes it nearly unbearable to wait around not doing anything, not seeing you.”

“I’m sorry.” Harry leaned forward, “Would it be better if I came every day, whether I’ve got anything new or not? Just to spend time together.”

“I’m already asking too much of you.” Draco shook his head, pink tingeing his pale cheeks, “I couldn’t make you babysit me as well.”

“I don’t mind.” Harry could feel Draco’s breath against his face, and he wondered when they’d gotten so close. Had they been standing this near the whole time? “I miss you, too.”

“But what would we do if there’s no work?” Draco was speaking in a very soft tone, barely breathing the words, and Harry licked his lips unconsciously.

“We’d think of something.” And suddenly, Draco couldn’t take the tension anymore. He pushed himself forward, and his lips were against Harry’s, and it was warm and wet and soft, and in that moment, they weren’t in Azkaban, they were someplace where both of them were happy and carefree and content. But it was only a moment before Harry broke the kiss, his face feeling hot enough to catch fire. “I’m sorry.”

“I did it.” Draco countered. “And I’m not.”

“I shouldn’t have…it’s not fair to just…I have to meet Hermione.” And he ran out of the room.

----------

“Hello, Harry,” Hermione rose from her seat and hugged him warmly, as though they had not had their recent disagreement at Azkaban. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, and you?” Harry felt like ever since he’d first entered the interview chamber at Azkaban, his social life had consisted of forced meeting with Draco and a variety of witnesses. He’d almost forgotten his living friends, in the company of the dead.

“Oh, Harry, you look so tired,” she hugged him once more for good measure before they both sat and she ordered tea for both of them. “You’ve been running yourself ragged over this thing with Malfoy, haven’t you?”

“Possibly.” Harry admitted, shrugging as the two cups were left at their table. “Hermione, let me be honest here, I need your help.”

“You know I won’t help you dig Malfoy a deeper grave.” Hermione frowned at him chidingly. “You know what I think of what you’ve been doing.”

“Hermione, you don’t know the half of what I’ve been doing.” Harry leaned forward so he could speak quietly to her. “It’s not like you think.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione leaned forward as well, clearly eager to know Harry’s secret.

“I mean, I’ve got something to tell you, but you have to swear first that you won’t tell Ron any of it.” Harry felt guilty doing this, as he knew firsthand how difficult it was to keep things this big a secret, but it was the only way he’d be able to finish his work without Ron coming to murder him in the middle of the night.

“Are we talking about something legal?” Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, and Harry nearly laughed in relief that her only suspicion was that he might be breaking the law.

“Extremely legal.” Harry prompted her to promise, and after a while, she nodded and spoke again.

“Alright, you win; I swear I won’t tell Ron what you’ve been up to.” Hermione agreed. “Now what is it?”

“Okay, I know you think that I’m trying to get years added to Malfoy’s sentence.” Harry could think of no other way to break the news than to just blurt it out. “But I’m actually quite sure he’s innocent, and I mean to get his name cleared.”

Silence. Hermione’s mouth opened, then closed, and then she bent over to dig in her purse. Harry watched her for a moment before curiosity got the better of him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, trying to see what she had pulled from her purse.

“My planner,” she held up a brown leather book, “I’m just checking that it’s not April Fools’ Day or anything.”

“This isn’t a joke!” Harry hissed at her, “Please, do you think I’d joke about this?”

“Not really, but I couldn’t think of any other explanation.” She shrugged, putting the planner away and frowning at him in confusion. “You expect me to believe that your consuming mission has become to clear Draco Malfoy’s name?”

“Yes!” he affirmed. “I’ve gotten evidence which clears up seven of the twelve murders, and with your help, I could get at least one more of them taken care of.”

“I’m sorry…I’m still having a hard time with this. What would have even prompted you, the very man who captured Draco, to set him free?” Hermione wanted to know. “Why would you think he was innocent?”

“About a month after his capture, I found evidence that one of his victims was actually still alive.” Harry knew he could tell her this much without breaking his promises. “When my suspicions were confirmed, I began to think, how many of these murders did he commit? I mean, he admitted to all of them freely, without any force on our end. It was like he wanted to be condemned, but he also knew enough about the deaths that we didn’t question the truth behind his admissions. Some people didn’t want to bother giving a Death Eater a trial at all, but with all his confessions, it still ended up locking him away for the rest of his natural life. I began to dig a bit deeper, and I discovered that his memory has been altered several times, mostly by his own father, leading him to actually believe he committed those crimes.”

“Why would he do that?” Hermione scowled. “Which of the victims is still alive? Who’s confirming these stories?”

“I think he wanted to force Draco into being better able to kill. He couldn’t do it, you see, especially not to helpless prisoners, so his father thought he just needed a nudge. It didn’t really work out.” Harry shrugged. “As for the second question, I can’t tell you that. The person made me swear to keep it a secret until they’re ready to make an appearance. For the last question, I’ve gotten various witnesses to corroborate my suspicions about the other murders I’ve investigated so far. I’ve seen the true deaths of Fleur, Seamus, Luna, Neville, Ginny, Lavender, and Fred.”

“I’m…I’m going to need to go over your notes on this case if I’m going to be able to support you. I mean, I guess I believe you. You seem so sure, and I don’t see why you’d lie about this, especially when it would involve Ginny and the others.” Hermione answered after a while. “After that, will you tell me what you need my help with? Is it just the rest of the research?”

“No, there’s this.” Harry produced a small parcel and pushed it across the table. “I believe it contains Moody’s last moments, but I have no way of getting it to repeat them for me. If there is a way, that’s the only thing I can think of to get hard evidence Draco didn’t kill Moody. I can’t find anyone else who was present for his death.”

“Is this…what I think?” Hermione’s eyes went wide. “How did you even get this?”

“A favor.” Harry sighed. “Will you help me?”

“I’ll try.”

*****

To be continued…