alisanne: (Green_harry)
[personal profile] alisanne
Title: Homecoming - Part 24
Author: [personal profile] alisanne
Word count: 2870
Rating: PG
Characters/pairings: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy, Dolores Umbridge.
Challenge: Written for [community profile] slythindor100/[livejournal.com profile] slythindor100/[insanejournal.com profile] slythindor100's Christmas Challenge prompt #24: Christmas tree with presents.
Summary: The plot is revealed.
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): [personal profile] sevfan and [personal profile] emynn.
Authors Notes: This is part 24 of my H/D Homecoming Series (LJ/IJ/DW).

Back to Part 23 (LJ/IJ/DW)


~

Homecoming - Part 24

~

It took them a while to leave the Burrow since Molly insisted they retrieve and open their gifts from under the Christmas tree before going. “It’s not much,” she said to Draco as she handed him his to open. “But I don’t have much time.”

When Draco pulled out the hand-knitted scarf and gloves, however, he looked touched. “Thank you so much, Mrs Weasley.”

Molly smiled, patting his cheek. “Call me Molly, dear.” Her eyes darted to Harry. “Something tells me I’ll be seeing a lot of you.”

Harry, of course, got his traditional Weasley jumper, this one a warm gold with a red H on the front. “Brilliant! Thank you so much,” he said, holding it up.

“You’re most welcome, love.” Hugging him, she whispered, “I’m happy for the two of you.”

After they’d shrunk their gifts and told people, including Narcissa and Andromeda, goodbye, they left, but not before Molly got them to promise they’d be back for Christmas dinner the following day.

The Ministry was deserted by the time they got back there. Draco, predictably, was still complaining even as they got onto the lift to go to the DMLE. “…see those custard tarts? Salazar, I can’t believe we didn't get to try them.”

Harry sighed. “We can always go back and have pudding after we finish checking this out. I mean, what are the chances anything’s actually wrong? There has to be an explanation.”

“As if there will be anything left when we get back? I saw the way Weasley was eyeing the dessert table.” Draco shook his head. “You’re sure you want to do this tonight?”

“You didn’t have to come,” Harry said as they exited the lift. “You could have stayed behind at the Burrow while I checked this out.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Draco. Placing a hand on Harry’s arm, he frowned. “Wait, do you hear that?”

Harry listened. After a moment, there was a distant wail.

“Yes. It sounds like someone’s being interrogated.”

“On Christmas Eve?” Draco raised an eyebrow. “Is that typical?”

“Nope.” Drawing his wand, Harry strode towards the interrogation rooms. “Stay behind me.”

“Don’t worry,” Draco whispered as they moved closer. “I’ve a healthy sense of self-preservation. Plus, I can take care of myself.”

That was certainly true. Feeling slightly better, Harry held up a hand to indicate he was stopping. Fortunately, Draco seemed to read his signal, stopping with him.

Harry peered around the corner, blinking at the sight before him.

“What’s going on?” Draco hissed.

“It’s Goyle,” Harry said. “Someone’s questioning him.”

“Who?”

“Can’t tell.” In his heart, Harry knew who it was, though. The squat shape, the brown hair… “Their back is turned.”

“Let me look,” Draco said, trying to push past Harry, but Harry held him back.

“No, I’ll go ahead, you wait here, stay out of sight. I’m the Auror, remember?”

Draco huffed. “Fine, but hurry. And be careful.”

“I’ll be right back,” Harry whispered. Sidling around the corner, Harry crept closer, trying to stay close to the wall.

Goyle, tied to a chair, looked beat up, bloodied and bruised, a jagged scar on his left cheek. When he saw Harry, his eyes widened.

Harry shook his head, miming him staying quiet, and Goyle looked away. As Harry got closer, he began to hear what was being said, and, shivering, he recognised Umbridge’s voice.

“…thought you could betray me? You stupid lump of a boy. Hem, hem. You can’t outwit me. And no matter what you said to Potter, it won’t help him.”

“I didn’t say nuthin’.”

“You must have!” Umbrage slapped Goyle sharply across the face. “How else did he know it was me? Tell me how you got around my compulsions.”

“I didn’t—” The next slap made blood ooze from the corner of his mouth. Goyle whimpered.

“Nothing is served by you continuing to lie to me,” said Umbridge. She tittered. “Oh dear, that must sting. This can all end when you tell me what I need to know, Gregory.”

“Draco,” whispered Goyle. “He…he looked into my head.”

“Oh really?” Umbridge began to turn to face Harry’s position, so Harry ducked, hoping she wouldn’t spot him. “The Malfoy boy is a Legilimens? How irritating.” She tittered again. “Still, I can work around that, too. Hem, hem.”

She began to pace away from Harry’s direction. “At least I managed to destroy Potter’s evidence he brought in. Now all I have to do is capture him again, which should be easy since he’s right behind me. Stupefy!”

Harry had been half way to his feet when her hex hit him and he collapsed, the Elder Wand rolling beneath him.

“Think you can sneak up on me, you stupid boy?” There were footsteps and then Harry’s view of the ceiling was blocked by Umbridge’s frog-like face smirking down at him. “At least it should be easier to get what I need from you now that I don’t have to go through that cretin.” She waved in Goyle’s direction.

Harry tried to shake off the hex with all his might, but he couldn’t move.

Umbridge smiled unpleasantly. “I wish I could just kill you, but I can’t. Not until I get what I need from you, anyway.” Looking up, Umbridge said, “Come out, Mr Malfoy, I know you’re here.”

Fuck! Harry prayed Draco would stay hidden.

“I know you’re here, so if you don’t show yourself now, I’ll hex your precious Harry,” Umbridge shouted. “I shan’t kill him, but I have no problem hurting him. A lot.”

Harry tried to brace himself as Umbridge pointed her wand at him. “Cru—!”

“Stop.”

Damnit, Draco! Harry’s heart sank as he heard Draco’s voice and he redoubled his efforts to escape the hex keeping him immobile.

“Ah, there you are.” Umbridge pointed her wand at someone out of Harry’s line of sight.

“And there you are, said Draco, sounding cool and calm. “How did you get out of Azkaban?”

“Oh that? That was easy,” Umbridge said. “No one really notices or checks on the prisoners unless they make trouble, so I made sure to be quiet, keep to myself. That way, when I charmed my sheets to look like me, no one realised. The charm lasts for days, so by the time they notice, I’ll be gone.”

“So why are you still here?” asked Draco. “If it were me I’d have left the country already.”

“You’re not me, though, are you? And I have things to do here.” She shook her head. “You really ruined my plans, Mr Malfoy. If you hadn’t found Potter in the Muggle world I’m sure everything would have worked.”

What plan? Harry wondered.

“And what plan is that?” Draco asked.

Umbridge tittered. “Oh, it’s brilliant! And I suppose I can tell you since you’re not going to remember any of this conversation anyway.” Drawing back her leg, she kicked Harry hard in his side, making pain blossom inside him. The wand digging into his back shifted. “No, no, stay there, Malfoy. Good boy. Now, where was I? Oh yes, my plan. It’s simple. Mr Potter is going to be my son-in-law.”

“Excuse me?” Draco’s voice was cold, Harry could hear the icy fury in it.

“Oh, I suppose you weren’t aware I have a Squib daughter, but why would you know, I’ve kept her a secret.” Umbridge sighed. “She was such a disappointment, so when she was little I sent her to live with a foster family in the Muggle world. I couldn’t have anyone finding out about her, could I? But then the war happened, and I was imprisoned simply for following orders!”

“Okay,” said Draco slowly, his tone clearly indicating he thought she was mad.

Umbridge flushed. “I’m not crazy!” she shouted.

“I can tell,” said Draco, his voice betraying no irony at all. “Your daughter?” he prodded.

Umbridge calmed. “Ah yes. Maggie. Well, I can’t make anything of my life now thanks to Potter here,” she shot a look of pure loathing down at Harry, “but my Maggie can still be useful. Like it or not, Potter’s probably the most powerful wizard today, so his offspring should be powerful as well, even if the mother is a Squib.”

“So your plan was to make Harry think he was a Muggle, introduce him to your Squib daughter, and have him impregnate her?” Draco hummed. “And how does she feel about this plan?”

“Oh please, as if I told her?” Umbridge tittered. “She’ll do as I tell her because I’ll Imperius her. And once she does her duty, I’ll take the child and disappear.”

“Leaving her with Harry?”

Umbridge smirked. “That was the original plan, but you and your meddling messed that up. Luckily, I’ve done some research. Did you know Muggle have a way of preserving a wizard’s essence for years? All I need to do is take some of Potter’s, hem, hem, seed. That way he doesn’t have to be enchanted again, which I must say, was difficult. I had to make Gregory take him all sorts of magic dampening items to make the enchantment stick.”

“But that’s not all you wanted from him, was it?” Draco prodded. “Greg’s memories indicated you thought Harry had something of yours. His…sperm was never yours.”

Umbridge’s eyes narrowed. “You are too clever by half, Mr Malfoy. Yes, there’s one more thing. And unless Potter gets it for me, I’ll kill you.”

Harry felt warmth coming from the wand and, as a test, he wriggled one toe. It moved! Concentrating, Harry tried to take more of the wand’s warmth inside himself.

“…is it?” asked Draco

“He took it from my office when he broke into the Ministry one day.” Umbridge huffed. “That magical eye was very useful. It allowed me to see my enemies coming.”

Mad-Eye’s eye! Harry mind raced. He’d recovered it in the Forbidden Forest and hidden it in his vault, along with the Resurrection Stone. There was no way she’d ever find it unless she knew exactly where to look.

“…with that no one will ever find me. And I can raise my powerful magical child in peace. And it comes time for him or her to attend Hogwarts, my time will come. I shall be the power behind their power! Now, enough stalling, I’m going to free Potter and he’s going to get me the eye or you’ll die.”

“He’ll never do it,” said Draco.

“Of course he will. I saw the way he looked at you when I was Polyjuiced into that insipid Patil girl. He loves you. He won’t let me kill you if he can do something to prevent it. And the only thing he can do, is get me my eye!”

Harry shifted slightly. His body was still stiff, but he could move. Could he roll and get to his wand fast enough, though?

“No, it’s not,” said Draco.

Umbridge sneered, pointing her wand at him. “Fool. Just for arguing with me…Crucio!”

The hex flew from her wand and Harry followed it with his eyes, seeing it strike Draco….and go through him? His body shimmered, then disappeared.

Umbridge shrieked in rage. “Where are you, you—?!”

Draco appeared out of thin air behind her, his wand against her head. “I’m right here, you bitch,” he snarled. “Stupefy!”

Umbridge collapsed onto the ground right beside Harry.

Stooping down, Draco grabbed her wand, then pointed his wand at Harry. “Finite!”

Groaning, Harry sat up, pulling his wand out from beneath him and pointing it at Umbridge. “Incarcerus!”

A moment later he had an armful of Draco. “Are you all right?” Draco asked once he’d kissed Harry hard on the lips. “How’s your side? Did she hurt you?”

“It’s sore,” said Harry. “But I’ll live.”

Draco exhaled. “I have a good mind to kick her so she knows what it feels like,” he said, glaring down at Umbridge whose eyes were glassy and staring off into the distance.

“Don’t stoop to her level,” said Harry. He tried to stand, Draco helping him. “It’s enough that we’ll put her back in prison, this time with a constant watch.”

“No, it’s not,” murmured Draco, leaning in to kiss Harry again. “But it’ll have to do.”

Touched, Harry opened his mouth under the onslaught of Draco’s tongue. The kiss was just starting to deepen when they were interrupted.

“Excuse me.” Goyle coughed. “But, um, could one of you untie me? This is really uncomfortable.”

Draco groaned. “I am getting really tired of interruptions every time we try to kiss.” He shook his head. “First, no Christmas dessert, and now, no Christmas snogging. What is the world coming to?”

Harry laughed. Drawing his wand, he cast his Patronus to go for backup. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get dessert tonight. And as for snogging interruption—” He winked. “Now that we’ve solved the mystery, we should be able to make up for lost time.”

“I’m holding you to that,” said Draco, pointing his wand at Goyle to untie his ropes.

“Trust me,” said Harry. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“You’d better,” replied Draco. He smirked. “Because I’m beginning to think you’re all talk, Potter.”

“Is that so, Malfoy?” Harry shot back with a grin. Hauling Draco close, Harry kissed him again, sighing when Aurors began appearing moments later. “Hold that thought.”

“Do I have a choice?” Draco muttered, but he was smiling.

Harry squeezed his hand. Soon he’d show Draco just how full of action he could be.

~

Concluded in Part 25 (LJ/IJ/DW)

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