Light and Shadow

Light and Shadow

Chapter 7 - The party

The party was in an old shed in Brighton. Of course, when Harry got there, he didn't think it seemed old. By the way, it caught quite much attention, considering it was a gang's party.

It seemed that they had transformed an abandoned warehouse into a very fancy nightclub. It had colored lights everywhere and also, a fountain spraying water, that combined with the lights, created a very nice effect.

Harry deathly hated his godfather when he got there. The loud music was giving him a headache, and with the mix of color and smoke, he couldn't see anything. He should be disguised better, but he had no intention of transfiguring himself entirely, because he didn't like to. So, he just stretched his hair and made a pony-tail, got rid of the scar and changed the color of his eyes. The truth was that whoever saw him wouldn't imagine that he was the "famous Harry Potter", so, his look was perfect.

He stopped in front of the bar and thought of asking for some vodka. But since he was working, he couldn't drink anything too strong. So he chose a tomato juice. When he drank the first gulp he grimaced. It was horrible! That was when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hello, you came early... I thought you didn't like parties."

"I still don't. How did you know it was me? Am I too obvious?"

"No, actually I didn't recognize you. I just guessed it was you, because you're the only one who doesn't seem to be having fun," the woman said, taking a drink that a waiter was offering.

"I'm not here to have fun." Harry was serious. "I'm here to work, just as you."

"And so what?" The woman had a superior expression, showing she didn't care about what he said. "I'm here working too, but why not have some fun?"

"Where's Malfoy?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"He's around," the woman answered, indifferently, with a slow tone of voice.

"Around? How much have you drunk so far?" he asked inquisitively, looking at the woman.

"I'm not drunk. It would take a lot more than this to get myself drunk. And speaking of which, what is it that you're having?"

"Tomato juice. "

"Tomato juice?" the woman said, laughing, "With so many things to drink, you order that?"

Harry said nothing, just kept looking seriously at the woman in front of him, showing that the subject should go no further. And she soon realized that, because she changed the subject.

"You want to know where Malfoy is? Well, take a look at that table over there."

Harry looked intently at where she pointed and saw a group of men surrounded by lots of women.

"What about it?" he asked still looking at the spot.

"Do you see the man with black hair? He's the 'boss' of the gang. The two blonds are his 'trust' men. The rest are just security or friends."

"And which one is Malfoy?"

The woman smiled and answered.

"The only one who doesn't have an escort.'

He saw a man with Latin traces, black hair reaching to his shoulders, sitting talking to the boss of the gang. He thought it was funny, the fact that Malfoy was not there with a woman. Him, the biggest playboy of Hogwarts! Ginny really had conquered him, and it wouldn't be a very good idea for him to get out of line. There would be five Weasleys and Harry to kill him.

"Very well. Now answer me: what are we doing here?" Harry asked, irritated.

"I don't know if you were told, but we're spying on Death Eaters,' the woman answered debauched.

"How are we going to do that, if we don't even know how to get up there?"

"Ah! This is a job for Malfoy."

They stood silent for awhile, then the woman excused herself and left, leaving Harry alone. And so he stood for a long time. He began to get with the music, which was starting to give him a huge headache. After a lot of waiting, Malfoy showed up escorted by the woman who had previously been talking to Harry.

"Potter. Are you having fun? Looking at your face, it would seem that you're not," Draco said with his usual voice of superiority.

Harry said nothing, just gave an irritated look to the man in front of him.

"No," the woman said smiling at Draco. "Harry is here working."

"Potter, Potter... You need to enjoy the party, have fun, dance a little. Enjoy it while you're young enough to do it, otherwise, you'll just become a boring and annoying old man. Ah! I'm sorry, you are already boring and annoying," Malfoy said smiling ironically.

"Malfoy, no stupid comments. I want to finish this and get out of here as soon as possible." Harry looked at him seriously.

"Ah, Potter! Well then, you'll have to wait a little bit longer, because I'm taking this beautiful lady to dance, because unlike you, we want to enjoy the party and have fun!" Draco said taking the woman by the hand and escorting her to the dance floor, leaving a furious Harry behind.

* * * * *

When Ron got to Brighton, he had no clue to how he would get in to that party, because, as he could see, only people with invitations were allowed, and he didn't have one.

So, he used a Stupefying Charm against a guest and took his invitation. He transfigured himself into a black man and went inside. It was so ridiculous and easy, the way he'd gotten what he wanted, that it made him think that being a wizard really had a lot of advantages.

Now Ron was posing as a waiter and was walking with a tray full of drinks. As soon as he reached the main room, he intently looked at everything around him. There were all kinds of people in the place. The music was loud, the place was decorated with fabrics and colored lights, and there were dancers everywhere. The doors to the prohibited area were protected by two armed men, and they didn't seem to want to hide their guns, on the contrary. The guns were very big and were showing. As if to intimidate the guests.

That was when Ron looked at the second floor. The place had a lot of security guards, maybe more than in all the rest of the building. Ron realized he would have to get in there.

* * * * *

Harry was now on the second floor where Draco had taken them, and he saw that there were even more strange people there, when he heard Malfoy's voice.

"Smith, this is Andrew Granville," Draco said, pointing at Harry. "And this," Draco was now pointing at the woman, smiling childishly, "is Jenny Cagle. Jenny is Andrew's fiancée."

Harry gave a dirty look to Malfoy and then looked at the woman beside him. She made a grimace after hearing what Malfoy had just said.

"Fiancée?" Smith said looking at her hand. "I don't see any ring."

"Oh! They're one of those modern couples, you know. They don't care about rings..." Draco answered before any of them could say anything.

"So, Andrew, what do you do for a living?" Smith asked shaking Harry's hand.

"I'm a lawyer," Harry said shaking Smith's hand back, who was the boss of the gang.

"Lawyer, huh? Interesting to know, maybe you could come work for me," Smith said smiling at Harry.

"We can talk about it later," he responded returning the smile.

"And you, Jenny? Do you work?" Now the man was talking to Harry's supposed fiancée.

"I work, of course. I'm a decorator." The woman smiled. It came as a seductive smile, although she hadn't mean for it to.

"Interesting. Maybe you could redecorate my bedroom," Smith said giving her a significant look.

"Who knows?" She passed her arm through Harry's. He looked at her, shocked. What did she think she was doing? "Of course, I'll go only if Andrew lets me, right honey?" Now the woman kissed Harry's cheek and looked wickedly at Draco, trying to hold back a laugh.

Harry looked at her, not very pleased with the situation... and then at Draco. This little performance was really pathetic. But the gang boss thought that the look was because of what he had said, so, he completed by saying, "Oh, but of course Andrew won't let... If I had such a beautiful fiancée, I surely wouldn't."

"Andrew isn't jealous, right sweetheart?" Now the woman was entwining her hand in Harry's, who was trying discreetly to get his hand out. Draco was struggling not to laugh. Harry was really angry with the whole situation.

"Of course not, sweetheart." He said with a serious expression, and the last word was pronounced slowly. "I trust you," he finished smiling at Smith.

"So... What do you think of the party?" Smith asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, it's great..." the woman answered smiling. "Andrew told me he was l-o-v-i-n-g it!" the woman finished looking at Harry.

"That's good... I'm glad you're having fun, now if you'll excuse me," Smith said leaving them, taking Draco with him.

As soon as the man left, Harry took his hand away from her, and she started laughing.

"I don't see anything funny in this little performance of yours and Malfoy's!" Harry said seriously.

"Oh, 'Andrew', don't be so annoying. It was fun." Changing her expression to one of hurt, she said, "Unless you don't think I'm good enough to be your fiancée..."

"Don't change the subject. I can see that you're a great actress," he said, angrily.

At that moment, Harry noticed three people reaching the second floor. It wasn't just him that noticed, but everyone there. It was obvious that the men who had just arrived did not belong there.

At the other side of the room Draco turned and as soon as he saw his father he looked at Harry, Harry returned the look and, slowly, he walked toward them.

* * * * *

Ron had explored the entire place, trying to find a way to get to the upper floor. Currently he was leaning over a counter in the kitchen thinking about a solution to his problem, when he heard a feminine voice beside him.

"Hey! You, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," Ron answered unruffled, still thinking.

"Good, I want you to take this to the upper floor," the woman said pushing a plate of shrimps at him.

NO, he really had to admit, he was a lucky guy. He took it in such a rush that the woman had to literally run after him in the middle of the dance floor.

"Oh! Where do you think you're going?" the woman yelled because of the loud music.

"What do you mean 'where am I going'? Didn't you tell me to take this to the upper floor?"

"Yes, I did. But how do you expect to get in there without the bracelet?" the woman said, holding a bracelet and shaking it in the air, as if Ron was some kind of idiot.

"Oh! I didn't know I needed one to get in there..."

Very well, now Ron was circulating in the second floor, and there were a lot of people there. He could see Lucius, Boreman and Karkaroff sitting on a sofa. He was surprised to see Lucius wearing a suit. Actually, he never thought that he would see Lucius Malfoy wearing any muggle clothes, and it looked pretty ridiculous to him. He was the only one wearing those kind of clothes. He attracted too much attention.

He slowly moved toward the Death Eaters and left the tray on the table. He was about to leave, trying to think of something that would allow him to stay there a bit longer, when he heard the gang's boss.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"I was told to bring it up here, and that's what I'm doing," Ron answered as if Smith's question was completely meaningless. And it didn't please Smith much. He stood up irritated, holding a gun in his hand.

"Are you trying to kill me? I'm allergic to shrimp."

But Ron didn't get intimidated by the gun, or with the look he was receiving. While being a Death Eater, he learned not to be innocent and chicken-hearted.

"I don't mean to kill anybody. I'm just fulfilling orders," Ron answered in the same tone.

"You're very insolent," Smith said pointing the gun at Ron's face.

The situation became pretty tense. None of the people in the area moved. And Smith and Ron were still facing each other.

Harry, who was sitting with the Death Eaters in the small "room", thanks to Draco, went in defense of the waiter.

"Mr. Smith, maybe he really is just fulfilling orders," Harry said cautiously, anticipating the worst.

So the man looked at Harry, and then looked back at the waiter in front of him. After a few moments, he put the gun down saying, "Take this out of here And bring anything that doesn't come from the sea."

Ron, still holding the look, took the tray and left.

It was weird, not to say ironic, that Harry had defended Ron. Surely, if he knew who the waiter was, he would never have done it. Maybe the old Harry, but not this one. This one had so much rage and anger concerning his ex-best friend, that he would surely have just let things happen.

After the tension disappeared, the talking came back just as before.

"Well, as we were saying, what would be your real interest in my material, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Interest? What does it matter to you? I'm going to pay, aren't I? I think that's enough." Lucius was treating the man in front of him as totally unimportant, although he seemed dangerous.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, I want to know how my material will be used."

Lucius said nothing. Just looked at Boreman.

"All we can say is that it will be very well used," Boreman says.

"And it will be used in exactly what?" Smith was now impatient. It wasn't him who needed the material, but the men in front of him. And they treated him as if he hadn't any importance? "Terrorism, for example?"

Lucius looked at Boreman, as if not recognizing the word. How dare that man use a muggle expression for what they were planning? Terrorism? In Lucius Malfoy's opinion, what they would do with the material would be a lot more than simple "terrorism". It was for a far more important cause.

"You could say that," said Karkaroff, looking at Lucius as if warning him to stay quiet.

Lucius only made an impatient expression. He was starting to think that this plan of using muggle chemical weapons was really stupid. Of course, it would attract much less attention than the use of a potion. It would take sometime before someone suspected. The only thing that he wouldn't have guessed was that there were three people there from the Ministry of Magic. And he would never have suspect that one of them was his son.

"I don't know why you insist on killing people over lost causes? You should try dealing in something different. Something that really makes money, for example: drugs. It's a profitable business," Smith said looking at Lucius. He really didn't like the blond.

Boreman didn't have to look at Lucius. He knew that now the man was a lot more tense and impatient, and answered before Lucius could say anything that could ruin what they were doing there.

"No, Mr. Smith. We're here only for the merchandise that you can provide us."

"Very well. If you insist... Devon?" Smith said referring to Draco. "What do we have of the more advanced?"

"Well," Draco said looking straight at his father, with a serious and cold expression. "We have something that will surely interest you. It's a gas, that, when in the air, kills a person in less than two minutes."

"Good, and what exactly causes the death when one breathes the gas?" Lucius, seeing the expression of the man in front of him, had the feeling that he knew him from somewhere. But soon he put the idea aside. He wasn't related to muggles.

"This is another advantage of the gas. It's impossible to identify the cause of death." Draco was looking right in his father's eyes. Which made Lucius more fascinated. From where did he know that man?

After all that, Ron was back, bringing a different platter, and he could hear the last part of the conversation. It explained a lot about what they were doing in a place like this. He was almost sure that the first place to be attacked would be Hogwarts. Now he just needed to wait for the right time to get his daughter back. He placed the tray on the table and left. Not too far, still close enough to hear the conversation.

"And how much does it cost, this miraculous gas?" Boreman asked.

"It's expensive. Very expensive. Maybe I could suggest something else..." Draco knew how his father gets irritated when someone says that maybe he doesn't have enough money to buy something.

"You have no idea how much money we've got to be talking like that," Lucius said, angrily at the audacity of the man.

Harry thought it imprudent, Draco provoking Lucius. He wasn't there to solve issues from the past, so he gave Malfoy a serious look, as if telling him to stop that.

"It costs lots of Millions," Draco finally answered.

Lucius looked at Boreman, now really irritated. What were millions? How much was that in magic money? Then he looked at Karkaroff, as if he was useless. With so many contacts, he had to get the worst.

"And how shall we pay these lots of millions?" Boreman asked.

"Well, the first part now and the second when you receive the material," Draco answered.

"Logically it won't be easy to deliver such a huge amount in money..." Boreman said.

"We'll manage to find a way to resolve that issue," Smith answered nervously. Now these men want a discount? That was just what he needed.

"If you'll allow me to suggest," Harry decided to say, after all, it really was a huge amount of money to deal with. "Why don't you open an account in a fiscal paradise, Mr. Smith?"

"It's a great idea, Andrew. I would agree with that suggestion," Draco said looking at Harry with disdain.

"Yes, it's an excellent idea, Andrew. I think you really should come work with us," Smith said satisfied.

"Very well, so when..." But Boreman couldn't finish. At that moment, hundreds of cops invaded the party, guns drawn, and yelling words that no one could hear. The uproar mixed with the music that was still playing was all that could be heard. The security men started to shoot, and so did the cops.

Harry looked at Draco, who already had a gun in his hands. The woman beside him, who had played his fiancé earlier, put her hand inside her dress, looking for her wand. Immediately Harry stopped her.

"Are you out of your mind? You can't use your wand here!" Harry was yelling over the confusion.

"And why not? With all this mess, nobody would see," the woman answered taking her wand and casting a spell that Harry couldn't hear.

The light hit a man dressed in white in front of her. When they looked, to see who was hit, to Harry's surprise, he saw a red-headed man in front of him. Ron.

They looked at each other for a long time. Ron was serious, and Harry... he was looking with anger. The visual contact was broken only when he heard a scream beside him. The woman who had cast the spell was shot.

"Susan? Are you all right?" Harry helped the woman, who was falling to the ground.

"Yes, it only scratched me." Susan had a pained expression.

"I want you to leave. Now. I'm staying to help Malfoy," Harry was yelling so that the woman could hear him.

"It's okay." And disapparated.

Harry grabbed a gun from the floor. He had never gotten any use out of the shooting course that he had taken, until now. He looked around, searching for Ron, but it was too late, he was gone. So, he looked for Lucius, Boreman and Karkaroff, but they were gone too. Finally, he looked for Malfoy. He saw him shooting, but he didn't seem to be aiming at anything. That was when he saw a policeman coming up behind Draco. Harry started to move toward him, and when the policeman aimed the gun at Draco, it was too late. He was caught and Harry couldn't shoot the policeman. He looked around one more time confirming that Ron wasn't there anymore, and disapparated to the Ministry.

* * * * *

Harry was walking through the corridors of the Ministry looking for his godfather. He found him in the meeting room, which was crowded. When he saw his godson, Sirius stood up.

"Harry? Is everything okay?" Sirius asked seriously, but his voice had a worried tone.

"Yes, everything's okay. And Susan?"

"She was taken to the hospital. It wasn't serious, just a scratch. She'll be good tomorrow. And Malfoy?"

"He was caught by the muggle police. I couldn't shoot, or use my wand. Could I talk to you privately?"

"Of course!" Sirius excused himself and went to his office with his godson.

When they arrived, Harry told him everything that had happened at the party. The dialog of the Death Eaters and everything, till he reached the part involving Ron.

"He's in England, Sirius, I saw him." Harry was looking at his godfather with anger. Not at him. But for Ron. Anger for what he had done in the past. Anger for not having caught him at the party.

"Well... We'll put someone after him."

"No, I want to go after him."

"No, you won't," Sirius said with authority. "You're working on something else. Let me take care of it."

"No way. I'm going after him," Harry said determined. "What I'm doing isn't really important. I want to catch him. I want to catch that traitor," Harry finished, his voice full of rage.

"Harry, I said you're not going," Sirius now said with a firm voice. "When I have some news, you can be sure I'll let you know, but for now, you're going to finish what you've started."

Harry didn't say anything, just looked at his godfather. When he used that voice of authority, it meant that there was no use arguing. All he could do now was wait. And he didn't mind, as long as they caught Ron. He just wanted revenge, for what the red-head had done in the past.