Devil's Snare
Smell
Title: Devil\'s Snare
Rating: R
Word Count: 354
008: Smell
Paring: Harry/Draco
Summary: Harry is told to bring Draco to the light side of the war at any cost. Post-HBP, HPDM!D/s, dubious consent, Post-Hogwarts, war!fic.
Disclaimer: Unoriginal characters and situations belong to JKRowling. No copyright infringement is intended.
Table of Contents found at http://www.livejournal.com/users/mahoganyhandle/9713.html
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Grimmauld Place smelt like grief when Harry arrived. It was a mixture of the steamy sharpness of tea and the sweet warmth of chocolate, and the stale, interrupted musk of death. It burned Harry\'s nerves.
No one said anything when Harry gravitated to Lupin where he sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly at the grain. Lupin and Tonks had been lovers since Harry\'s sixth year, following Bill Weasley\'s run-in with Fenrir Greyback. News of her capture and murder would destroy him gradually, for Lupin was the sort to love slowly but strongly.
\"I\'m all right, Harry,\" Lupin said, patting Harry\'s hand. His voice was strained. \"We need to figure out what the Death Eaters know about our investigation.\"
\"Maybe you could get some information out of Malfoy,\" Ron suggested. There was a clamor, everyone gathering around with questions and curiosities and excitement.
\"He agreed!\" said Moody. \"How did you do it, boy? And what did you get out of him?\"
\"Nothing,\" Harry said. \"He\'s not a Death Eater. He never was a Death Eater. He doesn\'t have the Dark Mark.\"
Moody spluttered, clearly disbelieving. \"After what he did at Hogwarts, you honestly believe that he\'s not a Death Eater?\"
\"Voldemort marks all of his followers.\"
\"That may be so, but he doesn\'t mark sympathizers. Are you certain that you can\'t get anything out of him?\"
\"I can try,\" Harry replied.
The meeting started poorly. Lupin, despite his assurances that he was fine, couldn\'t help the heady pain that lingered around him, making all conversation and suppositions stilted. Towards the middle of it, however, they came upon something. Tonks had been taken right out of the Ministry of Magic, in the Department of Mysteries. She had spoken with two Unspeakables about the Veil. They had reason to suspect that she went willingly, which could only mean that she thought the Unspeakables were friend rather than foe.
Could Seamus Finnegan or Anthony Goldstein really be behind her murder? Harry, Ron, and Hermione were given the task of finding out.
When Harry left Grimmauld Place, it was well into the evening. The stench of grief lingered over him.