Undefined

Chapter 27

The Ministry and the Choice

Draco stayed true to his word and trained Harry in Occlumency every night following detention over the next several weeks, during which Harry showed a marked improvement.

"Better," Draco said, following a nightly session. "Much better; you managed to block me completely that time."

"Have you thought any more about what we talked about?" Harry asked, as he did every day since their conversation with Ron and Hermione.

"Yes," Draco said, avoiding Harry's eyes.

"And?"

"And I don't want to talk about it," Draco said, his last meeting with the O.S. still burned in his memory.

No longer regarded as the Golden Boy (which in and of itself was ironic enough), Draco was subjugated to open ridicule and scorn by the members and relegated to little more than a servant, fetching drinks and anything else the members demanded. However, there were perks to his silent reverie, given the important bits of information he gleaned regarding the Dark Lord. He knew whatever information he learnt from these clandestine meetings would not only benefit himself, but those immediately attached to him as well.

"I just wish you'd change your mind," Harry said.

As it turned out, events took a natural enough course to change Draco's mind in ways Harry's words never could. He was awoken a few nights later by Montague, who stood over his bed shaking him violently in the dark. Draco sat up, looking around disoriented as he'd just been pulled away from a particularly nice dream involving Harry.

"Malfoy, get up! Get up!" Montague said, as he shook Draco's shoulder. "Snape wants you."

"What?" Draco said, still not awake. "Wha' the fuck he want at this hour?"

"I dunno, but you'd better hurry."

Draco staggered out of bed, and with a great push on his back from Montague, stumbled down the stairs to find Snape waiting for him by the long extinguished fire. Neither exchanged words but Snape's face conveyed a sense of quiet urgency that suddenly made Draco feel wide awake. He followed Snape to his office, faintly making out a soft silhouette by the desk.

"Mother?" Draco said uncertainly, feeling as though his eyes were deceiving him.

She said nothing, but rushed to him, her cheeks stained with tears and her nose red. She gripped him tightly in her arms, squeezing him and sobbing into his shoulder. He patted her back in a very distracted sort of way, turning to Snape.

"What's wrong?"

"Your father has been detained and is on his way to Azkaban."

"What?"

"He...he was...on business," Narcissa sobbed, her face still buried in Draco's shoulder, "and he was detained by Ministry officials. They thought he was working under the orders of the Dark Lord."

Snape placed his hand on her arm and escorted the pair of them to his private quarters, where they Portkeyed to Spinner's End.

Draco half-expected the sitting room to be full of Order members as he was accustomed to, but he was relieved to find they were quite alone. Snape snapped the curtains shut with a flick of his wand and lit the small lamps on the table, casting the room in low light that elongated their shadows eerily on the book-lined walls.

"What the hell is going on?" Draco said, turning to him.

"Your father was attempting to gain access into the Department of Mysteries in order to obtain information for the Order regarding the capacity and usage of a certain room. It seems however, he was ambushed by a number of Ministry workers and, given the Dark Lord's interest in a certain room within the Department, they assumed your father was working under his orders."

"Ambushed?" Draco said. "So he was set up."

"Not necessarily," Snape said.

"Yes, necessarily, you idiot!" Draco said, one arm around his mother as she continued to weep. "We have a double agent."

Snape rolled his eyes and curled his lip, looking very irritated. "We are doing everything we can to secure your father's release. I assure you any ambushing within this Order would be prevented through--"

"The Unbreakable Vow, yeah, but there are bound to be loopholes!" Draco exclaimed.

Snape looked at him quite obtusely before continuing. "Believe what you will, but for now I must go to the Ministry and meet with Avery."

After Snape Apparated with a singular pop, Draco turned to his mother.

"I told Lucius!" Narcissa sobbed.

"I know," Draco said, running his hands through her hair.

"I told him he'd land himself in Azkaban!"

"They'll sort it out," he said absently.

"What if he's administered the Kiss?"

"Don't be absurd, Mother; he'd've had to've used an Unforgivable or something," Draco said, his shoulder now soaked with her tears.

"What if he did?" she shrieked.

Draco shushed her and pulled her closer, her small body feeling more slight and frail than it ever had.

"Don't you dare leave me alone, Draco," his mother sobbed. "Don't dare do anything stupid like your father and leave me alone."

"I won't," Draco said, his loyalty to the Order fading more and more with each tear she shed.

***

"You look like you haven't slept," Harry said when they were finally alone in detention the following night.

"I haven't," Draco said, yawning.

"I know you weren't up late studying."

"No," Draco said.

"Then what were you doing?"

"Later," Draco said, too afraid to say anything with Snape a few doors away.

Harry told Draco to prop himself as comfortably as he could and forget about checking his work, which Draco did and immediately fell asleep. He awoke with a start when he felt Harry nudge his arm. Snape dismissed Harry and waited until he was well gone before leading Draco to his office and locking the door.

"It's not known how Ministry officials knew that your father was due to arrive when he did"--Draco scoffed loudly--"but there is a great deal of discord within the Ministry itself, so it may turn out to be mere coincidence."

"How can you say that?" Draco asked, standing with his fists clenched. "It wasn't an accident! He was framed!"

"Exactly why you are no longer in a high position given your delusions--"

"I'm not delusional!" Draco yelled, feeling more dramatic than normal given his lack of sleep.

"And your flair for dramatics," Snape finished, his lip curled.

"Goddamn it! Why can't you see what's going on?"

"Why can't you see past your own adolescent angst?" Snape snapped. "If you are quite finished, I have other matters to tend to."

"When I find out who's behind all this, I'll kill them! Even if it's you!' Draco yelled.

"THAT IS ENOUGH! OUT OF MY OFFICE! IMMEDIATELY!"

Draco turned, fighting the urge to flip Snape off on his way, and stormed down to the common room. He dozed by the fire, waking with a start and running to the fifth floor, finding Harry asleep on the bed. Draco shoved him over and rested his head against the pillows, his head throbbing painfully from lack of sleep and tension.

"You're late," Harry said, sitting up and reaching under his glasses to rub his eyes.

"I know, I fucking fell asleep," Draco said, sighing heavily.

"Me too," Harry said, seeming a bit uncomfortable. "I heard about your dad."

"Oh?" Draco said, his eyebrow arched. "Word travels fast."

"Word always travels fast."

Draco nodded.

"So, what's happened?"

"He's locked up."

"I know that but for how long?"

"Dunno."

"How'd they even..."

"Dunno, come on," Draco said, pulling Harry close. "Let's go to sleep."

Draco drifted off as soon as he closed his eyes, and slept so soundly he was disoriented when he first woke up. Only when he saw Harry lying next to him did it dawn on him that he wasn't in his dorm. He reached over to the bedside cabinet and grabbed his watch, noticing it was half past five in the morning. Never able to fall back asleep once roused, he shifted out of bed and walked to the fireplace, welcoming its warmth.

He stood staring into the flames, remembering how his mother warned him against doing it when he was younger saying it would damage his eyes. Not fire, he thought, but the sun, silly woman. It seemed inconsequential at the moment, whether it was the sun or flames that burned the eyes, or remaining loyal to the O.S. or turning spy against it, seeing as he was powerless to protect those he cared about while he remained involved. At that moment, he decided he would rather preserve what was rather than risk everything to a covert organization with lackluster leadership and no fool-proof means of protecting itself. But then, when did anything in life prove fool-proof?

He heard Harry shift, his breathing labored as he continued to sleep, dreaming or not dreaming of a dark corridor leading to an unknown destination. With that thought, something seemed to suddenly shift into focus; Snape had mentioned the Dark Lord's interest in the Department of Mysteries. Draco remembered visiting the Ministry with his father several months earlier. There'd been several levels and corridors, but one, the basement level, stood out as it contained a very long dark corridor leading to a lone door at the end of the hall. He walked to the bed and shook Harry awake.

"Are you having that same dream right now?" Draco asked.

"What?" Harry said, squinting in the half-light of the fire and still very much asleep.

"That dream you told me about; are you having it now?"

It took Harry several moments to comprehend, and even then he couldn't make sense of it. "What dream?" he said blearily.

"The dream!" Draco impatiently. "With the long corridor?"

"What are you on about?"

"Goddamn it, Harry, what are you dreaming right now?"

"Ron in a tutu," Harry said stupidly, unable to open his eyes properly.

Not wanting to know, Draco released him and sat on the edge of the bed, hearing Harry fall immediately back asleep. After several moments, Draco slid under the covers, warmth slowly and cautiously settling into his body.

***

They spent that Saturday together as much as they could, venturing to Hogsmeade at different hours and running into one another at coordinated times, stealing a few desperate kisses in dark corners when no one was around. Draco heard nothing from his mother that day, and Snape made a point to turn and walk in the opposite direction or pointedly ignore Draco whenever they were in close proximity. His ignorance on his father's situation grew to a fury; he felt that if anyone had the right to know what was going on, he did.

When he sat down to dinner that evening, he noticed a copy of the Daily Prophet a few inches from his plate. The title leapt out like blood on snow: Lucius Malfoy sentenced to Fifteen Years in Azkaban. Draco snatched the paper and read frantically, learning that the Wizengamot had obtained testimony and evidence from a number of witnesses, tying Lucius directly to activities associated with the Death Eaters.

Draco crumpled the paper and tossed it aside, stomping his way to the Owlery, intending to write his mother a very long letter inquiring why he'd learnt of his father's fate in a newspaper. He scribbled out a very nasty letter and sent it off, then walked straight to Dumbledore's office, standing by the stone gargoyle with his arms folded, intent on waiting for the Headmaster to emerge.

"Ah, Draco," the Headmaster said, stepping out from his office. "Right on time I think, won't you come in?"

Draco followed Dumbledore into his office, ignoring the myriad of portraits on the walls and the unidentified objects stacked helter skelter on various tables, all emitting an odd hiss. Draco placed his bag beside the chair opposite Dumbledore's desk and sat down, getting straight to the point.

"I'm interested in helping the Order of the Phoenix."

Dumbledore appraised him from behind his spectacles, looking most unsurprised. "I see. I take it your involvement with the Order of the Serpent has left you quite disillusioned?"

Draco could not wipe the shock from his face.

Dumbledore smiled serenely and sat back comfortably in his chair. "Oh yes, I know all about it." He conjured two glasses and a bottle of brandy. "In fact, it is quite extraordinary it has survived this long, given that I was the one who wrote the code."

"So Snape's not--"

"A double double agent?" Dumbledore said, smiling as he poured them each a glass. "No."

"So that Unbreakable Vow he administered was--"

"Completely benign? Yes. Totally ineffective? Most assuredly. As is your Dark Mark," he said, handing Draco a glass, "Irrevocably."

"But how--"

"I'm sure you have many questions," Dumbledore said, sniffing his glass and closing his eyes. "Exquisite!" he continued, referring to the brandy. "I'm sure you have many questions, so ask away."

"You were behind it all?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Often times the only way to truly overcome evil is to create a proper outlet for its malcontents, something Voldemort does not understand."

Draco took in a large breath, trying to swallow what Dumbledore had just said.

"Nothing is black and white, Draco," Dumbledore said, taking a long sip from his glass. "You will also find that nothing is gray either; rather there are varying shades of black, white, and gray. Only when you find a balance can you truly find tranquility."

Draco took a sip from his own glass, hoping the brandy would help his mind keep up with Dumbledore's words. "So you want to defeat Voldemort and take his place?"

"No, quite the contrary; it is not my place to defeat him, that lies with another. However, it is my intention to instill as much doubt and turmoil within his ranks as I can."

Draco was struck with an admiration for Dumbledore he hadn't felt before. It was cunning and genius what he was doing, and Draco almost felt like a fool for not cottoning on sooner.

"So I reckon I won't be much help, seeing as you have Snape," Draco said quietly, taking another sip from his glass.

"Oh, you're mistaken," Dumbledore said. "You are invaluable as you, along with Mr. Nott, are closely connected to the students."

"I knew Nott was up to something," Draco said, quite proud of his earlier suspicions. "What's to become of my father?"

"Lucius has always been exceptionally strong-willed; Severus has been working tirelessly on his release given the unfortunate circumstances of his detainment."

"So he was set up, wasn't he?"

"I am not at liberty to discuss the matter at this time. However, rest assured I am doing everything I can to ensure his release."

Draco took another long drink, placing the empty glass on Dumbledore's desk. "How do you know I can be trusted?" he asked.

"I may not be able to always tell when one is lying," Dumbledore said, his face serene, "but I can always tell when one is pure at heart."

Draco nodded and stood, gathering his things. "I suppose you'll contact me?"

Dumbledore nodded and stood to walk Draco to the door. "I'm glad to see Harry has had a positive influence on you," he said once they reached the door.

Draco turned, nor sure how to react. He simply nodded and walked down the corridor, feeling as though Dumbledore knew more about Draco than he did about himself.