Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Meddling with Darkness	By : zoy_grey Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 32786 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 11
Disclaimer: I do not own nor make profit off of JK Rowling's world of Harry Potter, the characters or the timeline. Though I do own the plot that I came up with in this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
A/N: I have to say this is a very busy week...writing so much. I might be able to get one more chapter ready by the end of the week;) But what can I say?...with such nice words from you after each update :P As for Severus and Harry getting closer - not in this chapter unfortunately, but I promise that they will get some nice father and son time in the next two chapters ;)

Chapter 13

Almost a week has passed since Harry joined his friends at Grimmauld Place. Although they were still arguing from time to time about Malfoy, all in all the Weasleys seemed to have come to terms with the teen’s new friend. Harry suspected their new strategy was not to bring up that topic too often, but secretly to keep an eye on him and Draco. The black haired teen couldn’t blame them for thinking that way, since they really had quite a bad history with the Malfoy family. Harry simply tried to stay neutral and not force anyone to get to like Draco, but at the same time he was dead set on keeping his good relation with his cousin.

Days at Grimmauld Place were going rather slowly. Most of the time Mrs Weasley forced them to clean the house, which seemed to get dirtier every day no matter how many times they’ve cleaned it. After three days of constant cleaning Sirius revealed a little secret to his son, that the house getting dirty was one of the effects of the blood magic he and Narcissa performed a month ago. The house was kind of living on its own, getting dusty, attracting some annoying magical creatures; all of that to distract the other people from all the concealed secrets of the place. One of Harry’s habits by now was joining Sirius at night and listening to stories about their family. Now that the boy has found out he had a family he was eager to hear every single story Sirius got to offer. So far he heard about his fathers’ school years and how they went from enemies to husbands; he wanted to hear more about family members who weren’t there anymore, like his grandparents Walburga and Orion, as well as his uncle Regulus. The teen was very curious about the other side of his family, his other grandparents, uncles and aunts, but Sirius only told him Severus’ parents have passed away and that it would be better if Harry heard about that side of the family from his other father.

The only part of their daily routine that Harry had mixed feelings about were the meetings of the Order of the Phoenix. Recently those meetings took place almost every evening. The teen was glad to see some of the Order’s members like Ron’s older brothers and some of the aurors from the Ministry, but what pained him was the fact all those people were being manipulated by Dumbledore. When he thought about it, there was honestly no reason for those meetings and scaring all those witches and wizards – Voldemort was indeed back, but he didn’t plan to attack anyone…well, maybe apart from the Headmaster.

Today was one of those days when the Order had a meeting to discuss their next steps, especially with Harry’s upcoming hearing at the Ministry in about two days. As usual, the teens weren’t allowed to join the adults during the meeting, but they waited at the staircase using extendable ears to eavesdrop.

“Albus, what are you planning regarding Harry’s hearing?” they’ve heard concerned voice of Mrs Weasley shortly after the meeting started. A few other people in the room joined Molly’s question. Everyone knew the Ministry’s accusations were ridiculous, but even so, the fact remained the date of the hearing was set.

“Rest assured my friends,” started Dumbledore. “I will stand in young Harry’s defence during the hearing. I’ve also managed to convince a few shop owners from Diagon Alley to testify that he was simply defending himself.”

“Are you sure their testimony will be enough?” asked a female voice, whom Harry recognized as Tonks. A few days ago Sirius explained to him that technically speaking Nymphadora was also Harry’s second cousin, just like Draco. “From what we know so far, Fudge is leading his personal vendetta against you and Harry.”

“Cornelius is not going to be the only wizard present during the hearing. If that doesn’t suffice, there are also other, sensible witches and wizards, like Madame Bones,” explained the Headmaster.

The next topic of the meeting was recruitment. Each member of the Order was using their free time to convince more and more people to trust in Dumbledore’s better judgement. That however proved a difficult task; the problem wasn’t that people didn’t trust the Headmaster, but the fact that most of them refused to believe that the Dark Lord was back; they preferred denial, just like the Ministry. One of the important goals of the Order was to get more support not only in the country but also abroad. That was the task given to Bill and Charlie Weasley. The two young men reported their progress in recruiting wizards in Egypt, France and Romania.

“Unfortunately not many people are interested in the matter in both Egypt and France,” said Bill. “The only ones to support our cause were those witches and wizards who acknowledged the Death Eaters’ attack during Quidditch World Cup…everyone else pretends the threat doesn’t exist.”

“How about you, Charlie?” Mr Weasley asked his son. “Is the situation in Romania any different?”

“So far, I’d say Romanian wizarding community is reserved about the situation,” answered Charlie.

“How can anyone stay neutral about this?” asked furious Emmeline Vance. “Have they all forgotten what Grindelwald has done in Europe? Now it’s Voldemort again and he’s even worse than Grindelwald.”

“Don’t get me wrong. There are some people in Romania who agreed to fight alongside with us, but most of them are not Romanian wizards, but foreigners living there” explained Charlie. “The Romanian wizarding community is…well, there are some unwritten rules. For example, if the old wizarding families do not show us their support, then no witch or wizard in Romania will. And the truth is the old wizarding families do not support Voldemort but are still wary of our…general ideals.”

“Purebloods?” Sirius asked knowingly and Charlie nodded. “I could go with you and talk with them. I might be able to convince them.”

“You? Master of diplomacy?” Harry heard Severus’ sneer. After all the tales he has heard from Sirius, the teen started to see the potions master’s mocking in a different light. For some reason he could almost picture his dad laughing inwardly at Severus’ remark. Honestly it was almost like Harry and Draco; the blond tended to act all arrogant and sarcastic in public, just like Severus.

“Don’t start again, you two,” reprimanded them Moody. “Besides, Sirius, officially you’re a criminal on the run…you can’t just travel to Romania on a whim.”

“Only because we still didn’t turn Wormtail over to the Ministry,” Black snapped at Mad-Eye. “We should have dealt with him weeks ago and I’d be of more help than I am here.”

“I agree with Sirius on this one,” said Remus, who was immediately backed up by at least five other people. “We’ve been observing Peter for weeks. We know where he is hiding and that he’s been recruiting new Death Eaters. In this situation we should turn him over to the aurors. Not only Sirius would regain his freedom, but Voldemort would lose his strategic supporter.”

Severus sat there showing no emotion, but inside he was feeling proud and laughed at the Order’s members, because they were thinking exactly the way the Dark Lord wanted them to. Voldemort has been keeping Wormtail occupied with menial work, while it was others impersonating the plump wizard, who were recruiting new followers on the dark side.

“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” suddenly announced Dumbledore in his usual calm voice. “If we turn Peter over to the Ministry we’ll lose our secret source of information of what Voldemort is planning.”

“I thought that’s the job of Snivellus,” snarled angry Sirius. The potions master only glared at him, even though he knew his husband didn’t mean to offend him. “Don’t give me that look! Even you know I’m right. I’d be of more help if I didn’t have to hide here!”

“My boy, you have a more important task than worrying about Peter,” answered calmly Albus. “You have to keep an eye on Harry and prevent him from getting close to the Malfoys.”

“You can’t be serious, Albus. Draco is his friend and I will not tell him to stop that friendship,” retorted Sirius indignant by the suggestion that anyone of them had the right to tell the teen who to befriend.

“I confirm that Draco doesn’t seem to have any bad intentions towards Potter,” interrupted Severus, who was starting to have enough of Albus’ meddling with his family’s life.

“It’s still dangerous. The Malfoys are one of the strongest followers of Voldemort,” reasoned Moody.

“Was it less dangerous to force Harry to take part in a supposedly deadly tournament only because some obviously faked draw announced him Hogwarts Champion?!” Sirius was at his limit. He was fed up with Dumbledore, Moody and all the rest of them who blindly trusted the headmaster’s ideas. “If something is wrong and evil we should react, but so far Voldemort didn’t do much. Earlier you wanted us to protect this prophecy about Harry, but Voldemort doesn’t seem to be interested in it either. If this keeps going we won’t be able to prove to the public that the man is back and that he’s evil. With Wormtail however, we are able to prove his guilt! We should take care at least of him, otherwise we’re just running in circles and not moving forward!”

“I understand your frustration, Sirius, but we need to stick to the plan,” Dumbledore explained once more. “You have to trust me. In a longer run taking things slow, waiting for the right moment will benefit in the war. Can you trust me on this, Sirius?”

For a long moment Black was standing there and breathing heavily. He felt anger growing inside him with every word coming out of the older wizard’s lips and he wanted nothing more than to curse him to hell already, but he restrained himself.

“So far I don’t see any war. All I can see is a lot of people wanting to control my and Harry’s lives,” Sirius nearly hissed glaring at everyone in the room. “One thing I know for sure, is that if I ever see that traitor Pettigrew I’m going to drag him straight to the Ministry to get back my freedom.”

After those words Black walked out of the room, leaving the other wizards and witches speechless and with mixed feelings.

“Like a spoiled brat,” muttered Moody.

“If you were the one imprisoned in this house, I doubt you’d be taking it as well as he is, Alastor,” commented Remus and walked out to keep an eye on Sirius.

The Dark Lord silently observed his Death Eaters. With satisfaction he noticed that with every coming meeting there were more and more of his followers coming back. There were still many of his talented and loyal Death Eaters missing, most of them being imprisoned in Azkaban, but for the time being he would have to make due with those supporters he had. The situation didn’t look bad though. Most of the pureblood families once more approved of his cause; as well as a few new additions, like Sirius Black.

“My Lord,” started Mr Nott. “You wanted to see us.”

“Indeed,” answer Voldemort. An evil grin showed up on his snake-like face; this was the time to put their plans in motion; just like he promised his husband. “You all know what our goal is – rebuilding the strong and respectable wizarding community. We were always different than Muggles and we don’t need people who try to replace our traditions with Muggle traditions. These past few weeks you’ve all worked hard to gain as much information and influence inside the Ministry…now the time has come to turn plans into action.”

“What should our first move be, my Lord?” asked Goyle. “We already know Dumbledore has reinstalled his Order of the Phoenix. Maybe we could attack their headquarters?”

“No!” hissed angrily the dark wizard. “I’ve warned you all we need to change tactics this time. We need to use stealth and cunning; there can be no evidence of our involvement in the downfall of Dumbledore and the Ministry...unless, of course, you prefer to endanger your precious families, your wives, children…your heirs.”

As expected, most of his followers dreaded such an outcome. They were mostly purebloods who already settled down after the last war. All they were thinking of right now, was to keep their high social status and extend their bloodlines.

“Before we go into details of our first actions, I need you to go through these papers,” the Dark Lord gestured to Regulus, whose identity was yet again safely hidden under a mask and cloak, to hand each wizard a set of papers.

“Timetables? Trainings?” asked Avery, surprised by the unexpected actions the Dark Lord suggested.

“Yes. Most of you are excellent duellers, experienced in battle, but we’re growing in numbers and most of the new supporters are not as experienced,” explained Voldemort while the Death Eaters went through the impressive lists of new followers. “Although I strongly advice against open fights with Dumbledore and his people, nonetheless, I want each and every one of you to be ready to fight and defend yourselves when the time comes. I’m sure that even your children will be forced to defend themselves in Hogwarts these upcoming months.”

“My Lord…” Crabbe wanted to say something, worried about his son, but stopped the moment Nagini unexpectedly slithered next to him, towards the head of the long table where Voldemort was sitting.

“I never left children of my loyal supporters behind, now did I, Lucius?” asked the Dark Lord and stretched out his pale hand to pet Nagini’s head.

“You never did, my Lord,” confirmed Malfoy and quickly added. “As a matter of fact, my son would be honoured if he could be of any assistance.”

“Yes, that’s the next subject of discussion on our list today. With everything we’ve planned this year for Dumbledore, he’s certainly going to behave paranoid, especially with Mad-Eye Moody by his side. As such, your children might be targeted in Hogwarts, because of your loyalty to me,” most of the witches and wizards went silent when the conversation concerned their children’s safety. “I don’t expect anything dangerous to happen immediately, but most likely around late autumn. On school grounds your children should listen to Severus and young Draco, cause they will be working on my direct orders.”

“My Lord…what about Potter?” Alecto Carrow asked the question most of them wanted to ask, but were too afraid to annoy the Dark Lord.

“The boy is no threat to us,” an evil smile showed up on Voldemort’s face again. None of his followers had any idea of what revelations regarding Harry Potter were about to come in mere weeks from now. “The Golden Boy might even come to our side…am I right Severus?”

“…Yes, my Lord,” answered the potions master. He wasn’t sure what the older wizard was planning, but technically speaking his son was already somewhat on their side; especially now because of Sirius and Draco.

The meeting took an hour longer to end, but until then they all knew what was expected of them – remain neutral, pretend everything was as usual, attend the duelling trainings at Voldemort’s castle according to the schedule and instruct their children to follow Draco’s lead when Hogwarts starts.

“Lucius,” the Dark Lord asked the blond when most of the Death Eaters have left. “Is the solicitor ready?”

“Yes, my Lord,” Mr Malfoy took out some documents and handed them to the other wizard. “Dorian Whitham, young, ambitious pureblood wizard. Distantly related to the Ollivanders, which should eliminate any suspicions. He has spent most of his life in the United States. He’s lead around twenty, more or less, difficult cases all of which he won. Since last year he moved to London, where he’s staying with his mother’s relatives. Moreover, he does not approve of either the Ministry of Dumbledore’s ways.”

“Excellent,” commented Voldemort. “Make sure he doesn’t travel anywhere far in the near future.”

It was almost mid-August. Bill and Charlie Weasley just apparated at the Burrow from their mission. Today it was their turn to spy on Wormtail. They’ve spend almost four hours following the wizard, but they didn’t find out anything they didn’t already know. Pettigrew seemed to be tending to the Riddle House half of the day and vanishing in the evenings to recruit new followers for Voldemort.

“Want some?” Bill asked his brother showing him a bottle of wine he brought from France.

“A gift from your beautiful Veela girlfriend?” teased him Charlie, who made himself comfortable on the kitchen chair and resting his legs on the table; the younger wizard enjoyed those moments of relaxation only when Mrs Weasley wasn’t there to yell at him for the behaviour.

“Quarter-Veela,” corrected him Bill. The older brother filled two glasses with the liquid and sat by the table as well. “I’m gonna marry her, I’m telling you.”

“I’m sure you will…as soon as you get mum to approve of her,” laughed Charlie.

The two of them continued to tease each other and joke around; they’ve missed the times when they were still living at the Burrow and saw each other more often. Their family was very close, but due to Voldemort’s revival most of the Weasleys lived at Grimmauld Place, while Bill and Charlie stayed at their house.

“What’s bothering you?” Bill asked about an hour later, seeing his brother turning all gloomy.

“I just can’t stop thinking about Sirius and Pettigrew,” explained Charlie. “He does have a point by saying it’s ridiculous to leave Wormtail be.”

“I don’t like it either, but it seems Dumbledore has some plans for him and we all just trust the Headmaster’s better judgement.”

“That’s exactly what’s bothering me, Bill. I don’t want Voldemort starting a war again and killing people. I know I should probably keep in mind that it’s all a part of a bigger plan, which I don’t understand fully at the moment, but…I can’t get rid of the feeling that this plan…this greater good is hurting people close to me. You understand me right?” asked Charlie, looking for his brother’s confirmation. “Ron told us how Harry’s Muggle family has been treating him and we can’t be sure we know everything that has been going on in that house. Albus forbid us to contact Harry and that only led to fighting and bitterness.”

“I don’t like the outcome of that part of the plan either, but I just trust Dumbledore to be the wisest of us all,” said the older Weasley, but he had to convince himself to believe in those words.

“The wisest? Because of Albus spreading lies Harry was officially declared the Ministry’s enemy,” snorted Charlie and took another sip of wine. “I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking things, but if the price for this greater good of the wizarding world is to endanger teenagers, cause our siblings to fight with their best friends and controlling other people’s lives so that they fit into the big plan…then I don’t think I want to be a part of that.”

“You can’t be serious?” Bill was flabbergasted by his brother’s words. “You’re going to leave us like Percy?...Many of Dumbledore’s ideas don’t feel right, but I’m mostly doing it because of our family. I’m not going to turn my back on our parents and siblings.”

“I don’t want that either,” added quickly Charlie. “I will do anything to protect our family, but I won’t obey Dumbledore’s every order. To be honest, I’m starting to see why most of the Romanian witches and wizards refuse to help us when I mention Dumbledore. He is a great wizard…and he’s not evil, but I’d rather keep my eyes open instead of blindly following him.”

The rest of the night went by quickly. They discussed about the headmaster, Sirius’ home imprisonment and what stand should they take in the future. Thankfully after a while the topic of the conversation changed to a more pleasurable one – Bill’s next visit to France and the lovely Fleur Delacour.

“I know I shouldn’t get distracted now. Not with the war coming, but I can’t wait to visit her again,” the older Weasley said in a dreamy voice; his brother laughed at him, but he could relate to his behaviour quite well. “You’re going back to Romania next week, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” Charlie grinned widely while saying this, which made his brother suspicious.

“You have someone in Romania, don’t you?” asked Bill smiling at the other wizard, who suddenly looked terrified as a little kid, whose mother caught him while doing something bad.

“It’s hard to say if I still have her, really,” answered Charlie after a moment. “I told her I’m going home for a few months and I ended up here for almost a year.”

“But she is a real girl, right? You’re not just talking about some female dragon, are you?”

Charlie laughed heartily at his brother’s question. “Yes, she’s a girl, a witch. Although as feisty and deadly as a dragon indeed.”

The day of Harry’s hearing has finally come. At first, he didn’t care about it, because the accusations were outrageous and he was more concerned about Draco than the hearing. Now however, he was a bit stressed out, because he has never been in court. Moreover, Mr Weasley was the only one accompanying him to the Ministry; Mrs Weasley took her children and Hermione shopping for school supplies and Sirius had to stay at home for obvious reasons.

Harry silently followed Arthur Weasley all the way to the Ministry. He was amazed by the appearance of the institution; after all it was the first time he has visited it. Not able to focus on the grandness of the interior for too long, he rushed with Mr Weasley towards the elevators. On their way they’ve met Shacklebolt, who informed them that Fudge has changed the time and place of the hearing, which made Harry even more nervous. Thankfully, the red haired wizard knew how to get to the right place fast enough.

When they got out of the elevator Mr Weasley lead him towards dark, double door to their right. While walking there, Harry spotted familiar blond wizards at the end of the corridor on the left. Immediately his stress went away and he wanted to go great the Malfoys, but at the same moment he was stopped by Ron’s father.

“Mr Weasley, I’ll just go say hello to them and be right back,” the teen tried to excuse himself.

“It will be better if you don’t speak with anyone before the hearing,” said the man, but Harry knew that wasn’t the reason he couldn’t speak with Draco. Sirius told him that Dumbledore wants to cut him off any contact with the Malfoy family. “Besides, the hearing is about to begin. I can’t go with you, but you should go inside and wait for the headmaster.”

The teen didn’t try to protest anymore; the past two weeks he’s seen how Dumbledore feels about Harry’s friendship with Malfoy and how most Order members treated Sirius. The boy decided it’s better to follow their instructions now, but as soon as school starts, he wasn’t going to be so obedient; he simply had enough of people making decisions about his life for him. Before he entered the appointed chamber, he looked in his friend’s direction and courteously bowed his head to the two wizards.

For the first time in his life, he was in a court; and he immediately decided he didn’t like the place. He was instructed to sit in the chair in the centre of the room. In front of him sat a big group of witches and wizards, who were supposed to hear out his testimony and decide about his further education in Hogwarts. Only then did he realise that if something went wrong today, he might not be able to go back to school and see his cousin again.

“Since Mr Potter is already here, let us begin with this hearing,” suddenly announced Minister Fudge, who just entered the room and sat in the middle of the group, right in front of Harry. “The subject of today’s gathering is illegal use of magic by Mr Harry Potter. The case looks fairly simple, so let’s proceed. Mr Potter, please tell us what happened at Diagon Alley on 2^nd August this year.”

“I was visiting London to shop for school supplies and some books. I was accompanied by Draco Malfoy and his father. Draco and I went to Flourish and Blotts to…” unexpectedly the teen was interrupted by the entrance of Albus Dumbledore.

“Honorable congregation, witches and wizards, please forgive me for being slightly late, but I’m here on the request of Mr Harry James Potter to lead his defence.”

“The hearing has already began,” said annoyed Fudge. “Please take your seat and we’ll continue with Mr Potter’s testimony.”

“Like I said, I was at Flourish and Blotts bookshop browsing for books, while Mr Malfoy went to do some other errands,” continued the black haired teen. “When we were finally done, we went outside and waited for Mr Malfoy. While we did that, all of a sudden, the sky went dark, it got cold and gloomy, and moments later Draco spotted three dementors flying over the street. We wanted to hide at Gringott’s, but when the crowds noticed dementors as well panic broke and we got separated. I was being pushed towards the Leaky Cauldron. Then one of the dementors headed my way, but some adults and my former teacher, Mr Lupin showed up and used the Patronus charm.”

“So it wasn’t you who used magic to get rid of the dementors?” asked Madame Bones.

“I did use it, but not at that moment,” explained the teen. “When that dementor was gone, Mr Lupin and the rest of the crowd were pushing me towards the inn again, but then I’ve noticed the other two dementors flying in Draco’s direction. I tried to shout and warn him, but he was too far and some people from the crowd bumped into him. I saw him loosing balance and falling to the ground, but no one tried to help him. Then those dementors stopped and attacked him. I tried to ask people to help him, but in all the panic no one was listening to me and those dementors were about to Kiss my friend. The only thing I could have think of at that moment was to cast the Patronus charm and save Draco.”

“Is that all?” asked the Minister looking a bit annoyed, but Harry had the feeling the man was mostly irritated by the headmaster’s presence rather than his testimony.

“Yes,” he admitted and quickly added. “If what I did was wrong and deserve punishment then so be it, but I would do it again if that means my friend is alive.”

“Thank you Mr Potter,” announced Fudge; seeing that Dumbledore was getting up and trying to say something, Cornelius rushed to say, “That will be all for the moment. Now we’ll hear one more testimony.”

Moments later the chamber entered Draco with his reserved Malfoy expression. When Harry took a seat by Albus, the blond teen sat in the centre, facing the Minister.

“Mr Malfoy, you were called here today to testify in the case of illegal magic use by Mr Potter,” was Cornelius’ short introduction. “Please tell us what has happened on the 2^nd August this year.”

While Draco was telling the court exactly the same story he did just moments ago, Harry observed the headmaster. Something felt off about the man. He was usually calm and smiling warmly to everyone, but for some reason the man seemed impatient today. The teen suspected it might have been because he planned to lead Harry’s defence today, but in the end the Minister took the lead, leaving Dumbledore to feel useless.

“So what you’re saying is that if not for Mr Potter’s Patronus, you’d be seriously injured,” concluded one of the wizards that Harry didn’t know or recognize.

“If not for Harry’s intervention, I’d be dead most likely,” corrected him Draco.

“Thank you for your time Mr Malfoy,” announced Fudge.

At that moment, Albus stood up and started his monologue to convince the court about ridiculousness of this hearing and Harry’s innocence. That seemed to only annoy the Minister even more, who started lecturing the older wizard on how it is rude to interrupt in the Ministry’s work. Harry however lost interest in their conversation and focused on his cousin. Draco used the opportunity to sit next to the black haired teen and exchange at least a few words.

“Are you really alright? I was terrified not being able to get in touch with you,” whispered Harry.

“I’m fine,” assured him the blond. “I slept for a bit, but all in all I’m fine…just bored without you at the manor.”

“Yeah, me too. Ron is pouting all the time that I’m friends with you,” the teen snickered seeing Draco’s smug expression. “Just promise me you’re going to act civilized towards the Weasleys and Hermione. I’m not forcing you to like them, but try to be neutral.”

“If you insist,” Draco sighed exasperated. “When this is over don’t go anywhere far. Father and I brought your trunk, Hedwig and my gift for your birthday, since I didn’t get the chance to give it to you sooner.”

“I kindly ask you to take your seat Headmaster and allow us to continue with this already too long hearing,” said Fudge in a strained voice and catching everyone’s attention. “Taking testimonies of Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy into consideration, as well as the results of investigation inside the Department of Magical Law Enforcement we declare Mr Harry James Potter lifted of charges due to the extreme circumstances that led him to illegal use of magic. Mr Potter was forced by the situation to use the Patronus charm in order to protect his fellow student. I hereby declare this case closed and ordain thorough investigation regarding neglect in supervision of dementors.”

The final verdict was nothing surprising to most of the witches and wizards present in the chamber; everyone felt this entire situation was ridiculous. However, Dumbledore looked completely befuddled – he expected the Ministry to treat Harry like their enemy and try to question the boy’s every word, but it all went smoothly and reasonably.

Albus lost sight of his Golden Boy for a moment when everyone rushed towards the doors. Moments later he saw the teen chatting jauntily with Lucius and Draco Malfoy. The wizard heard a voice screaming in frustration seeing the teen all friendly with that particular wizarding family. He was even more concerned when Lucius Malfoy took out something from his pocket and enlarged it, revealing it to be Harry’s trunk and a large colourful box. Meanwhile, younger Malfoy handed the black haired teen a cage with Hedwig. Albus couldn’t look calmly at it and left the place to look for Shacklebolt; he had to make sure the auror checked Harry’s belongings.

“Harry,” the teens conversation with his cousin and uncle was interrupted by Arthur Weasley, who showed up to pick him up and escort to Grimmauld Place. “We should be going now.”

“You seem a tad stressed, Arthur,” fleered at him Lucius. “You might consider working less,” and added sarcastically. “My bad…I forgot you don’t have too much work in your department to begin with.”

Harry couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes hearing his uncle’s remark. It was really going to be difficult to keep good relations with both Weasleys and Malfoys.

“Now gentlemen,” joined them Minister Fudge. “I’m afraid I have to change your plans. Since we cleared that unfortunate situation with dementors I’m sure young Harry and Draco will not deny me the chance for a short chat and an interview for the Daily Prophet.”

“Of course we’ll gladly spare our time, Minister,” said quickly Draco and gently pushed his cousin to follow him and Fudge, before Mr Weasley could protest.

Arthur was left at the corridor completely disoriented. He was supposed to get Harry, bring him to the Headquarters and go back to work. The wizard wasn’t counting on any changes in the plan, so the sudden turn of events made him feel lost. He saw Harry casting him an apologetic look and vanishing with the Minister, while Lucius smirked at him and walked away leaving him with the teen’s belongings.

The meeting with Cornelius Fudge was dragging immensely, but the dark haired teen didn’t mind it as long as he could spend some time with Draco. It was kind of fun to watch the blond acting all superior even towards the Minister of Magic. In no time, Harry decided he might try out how well Draco taught him how to act like a pureblood heir; and so, after a while he became acting a bit haughty and used flattery like a master. All that, seemed to please both Fudge and the reporters from the Daily Prophet. Harry delighted in the knowledge that keeping good relation with the Ministry as well as telling the newspapers that he didn’t see the Dark Lords revival would shutter Dumbledore’s plans. In all honesty, the teen felt disappointed that the Headmaster kept him away from his real family, but the way the old wizard tried to control him and Sirius annoyed him immensely and he wanted to get back at him for doing so.

“I’m sorry I made you wait, Mr Weasley,” apologized Harry when he finally met with his friend’s father again. “I really didn’t expect anything like that to happen.”

“It’s quite alright Harry,” smiled the man and handed him the cage with Hedwig. “It wouldn’t be wise to openly refuse Fudge’s invitation.”

The teen took the cage from the older wizard and looked around confused, “Mr Weasley…where are all my things? I finally got my clothes and books back. There was even my birthday gift from Draco.”

Arthur felt uncomfortable answering what happened with the teen’s belongings, “Dumbledore wanted the Order to check those first if there are any curses placed on them…so Kingsley took them.”

“What?!” the boy was absolutely enraged about the news. This was unbelievable; neither the headmaster nor anyone else had the right to go through his belongings.

For the very first time since the Order of the Phoenix made Grimmauld Place their headquarters, the house was quiet; almost silent. Sirius however didn’t mind it at all. Mrs Weasley took the teens to Diagon Alley, Bill and Charlie were out travelling and other members of the Order were at work. Black took delight in how peaceful the place was; even the portrait of Walburga Black didn’t shout insults at everyone.

“So what do you think, mother?” Sirius stood in front of the painting and tried to have a civil conversation with Walburga. “He’s still glamoured, but…”

“But he’s alive,” interrupted him the witch, a warm, loving smile gracing her face; something Sirius hasn’t seen since the moment he gave his son under Potters’ protection.

“And soon he’s going to be officially declared heir of the Black family,” announced proudly Regulus, surprising his brother by the sudden appearance.

“Regulus? What are you doing here?” the older Black started to panic that someone might see his brother and ruin the entire plan to destroy Dumbledore.

“Don’t worry, Sirius. Kreacher informed me, you’re here by yourself,” explained the younger man and greeted his mother’s portrait. “I needed to talk with you. Severus told us, you’re not taking the imprisonment here very well.”

“He wouldn’t take it well either, if he was in my shoes,” muttered Sirius.

“I know. That’s why I’m here. It’s time…Voldemort needs you to step in and go along with the plan.”

“Voldemort?” Sirius said with a snort.

“What was that about?”

“Voldemort?...or your husband?” the older Black stared at his brother challenging.

“Who else knows about Tom?” asked Regulus.

“Just me and Severus. What were you thinking? Marrying the Dark Lord?” Sirius ranted and looked at his mother’s portrait for some support.

“Don’t even try…mother knows about my marriage,” explained the younger brother. “I wasn’t questioning your choice when you fell in love with Severus.”

“Marrying Sev is one thing, but marrying the Dark Lord?!”

“You’re forgetting who was searching for Orion when you lost faith in our family; and who nearly died trying to get him back to you from the Potters; and who is giving you now a chance for a normal life again,” the normally peaceful Regulus yelled at his brother.

“I’m grateful for that! I might even start respecting him, but marrying?! If you admire him then fine, but why would you marry him?!” Sirius just couldn’t understand it.

“Because I love him!” answered simply Regulus. “You didn’t see that answer coming, did you?”

For a longer moment Sirius was silent. It was true, he didn’t expect to hear that answer, but to be honest, deep inside he had the feeling that might be the case – his baby brother was in love with the most dangerous dark wizards in ages.

“If we’re done with this matter, I’d like to tell you what’s the plan for the next few weeks.”

“Yes, true,” was all Sirius could say, since he was still in shock.

“Lucius made sure Orion gets on good terms with the Ministry again, so you don’t have to worry about that. The next step is to get you lifted of charges and Orion proven to be your son,” continued Regulus when his brother only nodded that he understands what’s expected of him. “These upcoming two weeks you have to find a good opportunity to make a very dramatic scene in front of the Order…something that will make Dumbledore think you’ve noticed Harry Potter might not be a Potter. Most of the Order will not understand what’s going on, but you’ll at least scare the hell out of the old fool and that will give us a chance to announce to the Ministry that Harry is your son.”

“Does that mean I’m supposed to turn myself to the Ministry?” asked Sirius, suddenly thinking straight again.

“Well let’s just say you’d better keep your eyes open in the next few weeks…you never know when a certain rat might show up so that you can catch him and bring to justice,” smirked Regulus seeing realisation showing on the older wizard’s face. “Me and my husband will make sure you get an excellent solicitor to get you out of this mess.”
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Meddling with Darkness