alisanne

Title: Homecoming - Part 19
Author:

alisanne
Word count: 1240
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Characters/pairings: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle.
Challenge: Written for

slythindor100/

slythindor100's Christmas Challenge prompt #19: Flaming Plum Pudding.
Summary: Goyle's answers only raise more questions.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.
Beta(s):

sevfan and

emynn.
Authors Notes: This is part 19 of my H/D Homecoming Series (LJ/IJ/DW).
Also, there may be some implied criticism of 'Cursed Child'. :P

Back to Part 18 (LJ/IJ/DW)

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Homecoming - Part 19

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While the attack was a surprise, Harry hadn’t been top of his Auror class for nothing. He dodged, trusting his personal shields to absorb most of the blow, and fired back his own hex. “Expelliarmus!”

Goyle flew backwards, hitting the opposite wall of the hallway outside Harry’s flat before crumpling.

Draco, who was waiting behind the door, shoved past Harry. “What the fuck?” he cried.

Harry scanned the hallway looking for an accomplice but it was empty. “Help me get him inside,” he said.

Draco nodded, and together, they Levitated Goyle inside, settling him on the sofa.

“Ready?” Harry said after a moment.

Thin-lipped, Draco nodded.

“Ennervate!”

Goyle groaned, struggling to sit up. When he saw both Harry and Draco standing over him, his eyes bulged.

“Hello, Goyle.” Harry held up his wand. “You’re unarmed, by the way. Now, I have some questions for you. First, why are you here?”

Goyle licked his lips. “I just came to visit—”

“No one else knew I was here,” said Harry flatly. “Try again. Why are you here?”

“I can’t tell you nuthin’,” muttered Goyle.

“Can’t, or won’t? asked Draco, voice cool.

Goyle’s eyes flicked to Draco. “Draco—”

“Answer the question,” Draco snapped.

Goyle swallowed hard. “I’m here to check on Potter,” he said. “Supposed to check every couple of days, make sure the charm’s still working.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “What’s your involvement in this, Goyle? Did you hex me? If so, why?”

“It wasn’t my plan. I’m just doing the gruntwork!” Goyle licked his lips. “Look, I needed money, yeah? And she said she had plenty, all I needed to do was help her do this. Didn’t mean no harm.”

“No harm?” Draco’s eyes narrowed.

“Hang on,” Harry said softly. Placing a hand on Draco’s arm, he glared down at Goyle. “So, you didn’t place the hex on me?”

Goyle coughed. “Well—”

“Evidently, you did.” Draco frowned. “No offence, Greg, but this is a very sophisticated spell. Not your typical style.”

“Piss off, Draco,” Goyle muttered.

Harry cleared his throat. “So someone told you what hex to cast and you did it.”

Goyle shrugged.

“I’m taking that as confirmation,” said Harry. “All right. What exactly were you helping this person do, other than hex me?”

Goyle looked away. “I was helping her get something back.”

“Get what back?”

Goyle sighed. “Look, I dunno the details, yeah? All I know is she said you’d taken something from her, and she wanted it back. She pays good, so—” He shrugged.

“Who is ‘she’?” Harry asked.

Goyle shook his head. “Can’t say.”

Draco, who had clearly been holding himself back, shook off Harry’s hand and, leaning down, growled, “Listen, Greg. You’re my friend, but do not think for a second that I will hesitate to curse the living shit out of you if you don’t start telling us what the fuck is going on right now, do you hear me? Now who sent you?”

“I can’t say!” Greg cried. “She made it so I can’t say her name!”

Harry pulled Draco back. “Let me,” he murmured.

After huffing, Draco nodded, turning away and starting to pace.

“All right, Goyle. Let’s start from the beginning. Contradict me if I say anything wrong. You hexed me on behalf of someone else, who gave you the spell to use.” Harry pursed his lips when Goyle didn’t say a word. “This person says I have something of theirs, and they want it back. Do you know what this item is?”

Goyle shook his head.

“All right,” continued Harry. “So you hexed me. Then what? Why make me think I was a Muggle and set me up in London? Why not make me hand over whatever it was and be done?”

Goyle glanced up at Harry. “Couldn’t,” he finally said.

“Couldn’t what?” asked Harry. “Couldn’t make me hand it over?”

“Yeah.” Goyle huffed. “She said to Imperius you, only it didn’t work.”

Draco spun. “What do you mean, it didn't work?”

Harry held up a hand. His look at Draco said not to push. After a moment, Draco inclined his head. Harry turned back to Goyle. “Maybe you did it wrong,” he said, tone bland.

Goyle’s shoulders sagged. “That’s what she said. When I asked her what to do then, she said to bring you here, so I did.”

Harry frowned. “This seems unnecessarily complicated,” he said. “Why didn’t she just come and hex me herself?”

“Unless she couldn’t.” Draco moved towards Goyle. “This person’s in Azkaban, isn’t she?”

Goyle hesitated, then nodded.

Who the hell was this? “If I say her name, can you nod if I’m right?” Harry asked.

Goyle nodded again.

“Okay.” Harry exhaled. “Let’s start with the obvious. Do I know this person?”

“Yeah. We all do.”

“It’s obviously a female,” said Harry, musing. “Is she a Slytherin?”

Goyle frowned. “I dunno.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” exclaimed Draco. “We’ll be at this all night at this rate. And I don’t know about you, but I’d like to eat my Christmas pudding this year, Harry, not sometime in March.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “You think you can get the name faster?” He gestured at Goyle. “Fine. Go ahead.”

“Watch and learn.” Draco leaned down, looking Goyle in the eye. “Just think of the person, Greg.”

Goyle stared up into Draco’s eyes. “Are you going to do that creepy mind reading thing?”

Harry blinked. Draco was a Legilimens?

Draco gazed deeply into Goyle’s eyes before abruptly pulling back. “Well, fuck.” He shook his head as if trying to expunge the image. “Salazar, Greg. How did you even run into her?”

“Who?” Harry asked.

Ignoring him, Goyle looked down at his hands. “She’s in the cell next to Mum’s. I visit every month and she’s right there, hears everything—”

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. “You do realise she’s evil?”

“She heard about how I want to be a photographer and she has access to money and before I knew it I was—” Goyle exhaled before looking at Harry. “Look, Potter. I’m sorry I hexed you, but I knew Draco and you were getting friendly, so when she offered a bunch of money just to cast what seemed like a harmless hex on you, I figured what could it hurt? I mean it wasn’t like she asked me to murder or maim you or anything, the hex seemed harml—”

“Shut up, Greg,” said Draco. “And can you honestly say you wouldn’t have maimed Harry if she’d asked?”

“I wouldn’t!” Goyle’s expression was pleading. “I really wouldn’t. You have to believe me—”

“Will someone please tell me who the fuck we’re talking about?” Harry snapped. He paused as a horrible thought occurred to him. “Wait, it’s not…Tell me it’s not your Aunt Bellatrix somehow come back from the dead! Or, even worse, some daughter of hers!”

Draco stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. “No. Fuck no! And a daughter?” He laughed harder. “Salazar, can you imagine anything worse?”

“Maybe if the kid was the Dark Lord’s,” muttered Goyle. “That’d be worse.” When both Harry and Draco stared at him, he dropped his eyes. “Sorry.”

“Okay.” Harry rolled his eyes. “You’re right, Draco, that’s too ridiculous to contemplate. Anyway, whoever it actually is can’t be that bad, right?”

“Oh really?” Draco crossed his arms. “What about Dolores Umbridge?”

Harry’s mouth dropped open.

Draco smirked unhappily. “Exactly.”

~

Part 20 (LJ/IJ/DW)