Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

If This Is How You Treat Your Heroes...	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Lucius Views: 96985 -:- Recommendations : 12 -:- Currently Reading : 15
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and make no form of profit off this story

Chapter List
- 22
- 23
- 24
Chapter 23

Beta'd by the most wonderful, amazing and stupendous Tenchi. Woman, you are the best and love you for all you do for me!

Up on the Astronomy tower, Draco was sitting alone, looking off over the Forbidden Forest. It wasn't that there was anything to see there, besides snow, but it was his focus. Actually, it was more like a focus point as his thoughts raced all over. What was on his mind was the same thing on most everyone else's in the castle; what was in the Seer. That would be expected, of course, what with the effect it was having on so much. From his end, though, it was more introspective about much of what had been discussed and how it related to him. He had spent the time since breakfast rereading the entire series of articles to see how it all fit together and what he could glean from it. What he saw he didn't like, not at all. Especially with what he put together from the talk with his father.
Sighing, he lowered his eyes then tugged at his robes in a nervous way. None of this was good, so he was kicking himself for not taking heed and doing what his father said at the time. He should have known that when the message was passed along from Tom that there was something more than what he knew going on. At the time, well, he just wanted to continue on as a way to torment some people for various things. The praise from Umbridge and how some in the castle seemed to fear him were things he liked. Now? He realized he had done something very foolish.
Unlike what most would think, he knew that he was spoiled. All his life his parents had given him everything he wanted and stepped up to get him out of whatever trouble he had caused or got into. He was used to getting his way in all things. When Potter rejected him on that train ride, it didn't set well and he lashed out. That was the cause of so much. It was petty, he knew that now, but he had been young. Since then, it had continued and grown from there. Potter, Weasley and Granger were such a focus for him that he couldn't seem to see beyond that to what the bigger picture might be. He just wanted them to pay for that past hurt, even though years had passed. And he hadn't let that go as he should have, pushing it to make them suffer. Now? It was going to bite him. It wouldn't be bad, he knew that, as he and those on the squad were basically protected because of what the board had done there. It didn't mean there wouldn't be fallout though. He just didn't know what that might be at this point. Tom wouldn't be happy with him. No, the man didn't torture him or anything like that, but his disapproval stung almost as much as his parents when it came. He didn't like that.
Eyes sliding shut, his chin dropped to his chest and he sighed. Now there were questions he wanted answers to so he could prepare for what was coming. How much trouble he was in with Tom was one of those. The others had to do with things his father had told him about Potter. Those, for him, were the big ones. He wasn't sure what it meant for him or what was coming from it. The only hint he had was that he was sure some of what his father meant was that he would have to be dealing with Potter regularly for a while. In what capacity he didn't know, but that's how it sounded. Especially if Tom was one of those protecting him. He wasn't sure he could face Potter right now with all he knew from that paper. There was plenty of guilt over some of it, something he wasn't used to dealing with.
Honestly? He didn't have anything in his life he could even look to that related to so much of what he read in those articles. He had parents that loved him and did all they could for him, no one, anywhere, would have been foolish enough to pull some of the stunts they had with Potter with him. He didn't have his life yanked around by so many people with no way to stop it, he wasn't thrown into situations that were life and death, things like that. He couldn't even begin to fathom some of what he read in those articles. And he felt sick about some of it. The question was, though, what did he do from here? That he didn't know. He also wasn't sure what he would do or say if he saw Potter again, something that did sound like it would happen at some point.
Not opening his eyes, he reached up and patted the place under his robes where the pocket of his shirt was. He could feel the folded up parchment there. It was the letter he had gotten from his parents that morning. There wasn't much to it, obviously, as neither of them were going to talk about anything too sensitive in something someone might get a glimpse of. There was enough there that made him wonder what was coming, though. His father would be busy through most of the holiday. That was obvious to him as he knew what his father did in various places. With all that was going on, he had to be busy right now. It was also mentioned that they probably wouldn't be spending much time at the manor either. That was normal as well anymore. Most holidays were spent with Tom at his place. That he could handle. However, there were a couple of cryptic statements about spending time out of the country each day. That he didn't understand, but thought it might have to do with Potter, if he pieced some of this together right. That had him on edge.
Shivering as a cold wind picked up, Draco opened his eyes but didn't look up. He could easily put a warming charm on himself and it wouldn't bother him. The thing was he didn't want to just sit here anymore with all these muddled thoughts. He wanted to move. On the other hand, though, he didn't want to be around anyone either. Shaking his head, he decided to go for a walk around the castle, inside of course. He could still think that way, but would be moving. Standing up, he stretched, then began to make his way down the stairs. He wasn't sure where he was going, but would find his way eventually.

Boxing up his personal items, Cornelius Fudge was feeling melancholy. He was no longer the Minister of Magic. As planned, he had resigned at the press conference. That hadn't been pleasant, as anyone would expect, what with all that was going on and what was in the Seer that day, but he had managed. What he had done was just given the statement he had written then refused to answer any questions and left. What else came after that, he didn't know. He assumed there were all kinds of reporters all over the place, but planned to avoid them and get home. Already, the head of the Wizengamot was being sworn in as temporary Minister of Magic until an election could be held. Honestly? He didn't want to know anything beyond that.
Not looking up as the door opened, fully planning to refuse to deal with anything, he kept packing, sending boxes home as he filled them. That was until Amelia said his name. Shivering at the cold tone, he glanced up and said, tone soft, “I'm not dealing with any more, Amelia. You'll have to take whatever it is up with my replacement. He's being sworn in as we speak.”
“Oh, what I have to say is directed at you, Cornelius,” Amelia told him, eyes flinty. Seeing the man lower his eyes and go back to what he was doing, she pressed on, “I just want you to know that this isn't over. I don't care that you resigned. I don't care that you aren't in power. We fully plan to go after you for all you've done. You might not be facing charges that can land you in serious legal trouble, such as serving years in Azkaban, but you're facing plenty here.” Lifting her chin, she said, tone almost sadistic, “This morning, long before you resigned, I got a chunk of legislation through that allows me to use those memories, Cornelius. And I'm going to. I already have all the authentication I need to do that. I have the lead prosecutor coming in under an hour to start going over all the evidence I have on you and another case. Before the day's out, I will know what we can do here. Then I'm going to let him have at it.”
Stopping, she stepped closer, liking the fact that the man was now red and sweating, then asked, tone lethal, “How does it feel to have used every bit of influence you had at your disposal to take after a teenage boy, Cornelius? One that was abused after being dropped on a doorstep then used by plenty of people? All to keep a job you've grown to love? If you had done the right thing all along, you could have kept that job. Instead, you did what so many others have done and took the easy way out. It's easy to slander a teenage boy, isn't it? One that doesn't have the power to fight back against the full weight of a government that is taking after him. Then he had to run away to another country to hide to be protected from not only being sexually assaulted, but a government, one in the country he was born in, that wouldn't have helped him if he had said something. After all, that would have gone against the lies you spread.”
Hands starting to tremble as he put books in the box, Cornelius told her, softly, “I made mistakes, I admit that,” before being cut off.
“This all goes beyond mistakes, Cornelius. This goes into the area of criminal and misuse of power. He is a sixteen year old boy, one that lost his parents to a maniac. One that's had his life dictated by powers out of his control. That's who you took after, using your influence as Minister of Magic to do it, knowing he couldn't fight back. Shame on you!” She hissed, eyes flashing. Shaking her head, she said, “While you were giving your speech to resign, we got the order signed by the Wizengamot to look into your finances. One hint of anything improper and we're going after you for that as well, Cornelius. Despite how sickening it sounds, that will probably bring harsher penalties than anything else you've done. With what I've seen so far, you probably need to worry about that.” Shaking her head, she lifted her chin then said, “That's all I have to say to you. In a couple of day's time, you can probably expect to see me again when I arrest you. Rufus and I—we fully plan to ensure the history books will remember this mess, warts and all, and label you for just what you are, Cornelius. Good day.” With that, she turned and strode out, slamming the door shut behind her.
Trembling violently, Cornelius flopped in his chair then put his face in his hands. Oh, Merlin, this was bad. Taking deep breaths, he tried to force himself to focus so he could finish packing and get out of this mess. After all, it sounded like he needed to get with his solicitor, fast, before the worst happened.

Shaking his head as he finished the last of the summaries Rufus and Amelia had put together, Angus Little sighed and leaned back, rubbing his eyes in a tired way. As the head prosecutor for the Ministry, he was expecting this, but didn't have any idea it was this bad or involved. Quietly, he asked, finally glancing at Amelia, “What do you have so far? Snape, you said, is in a secure place with no one the wiser we have him.”
“We have that, yes,” Amelia confirmed with a nod. “We'll get him to the Wizengamot tonight after normal hours then have him in Azkaban shortly after that. The deal, as you saw, is in place and we have all the information we need out of him. I just don't want to make any kind of move on the big names until I know he's as secured as we can get him. We've made damned sure that no one, anywhere, knows we have him or what we've done.”
“Good,” Angus sighed with a nod. “Alright, how about we do this—I'm taking copies of everything you have with me. As you keep investigating, send it to me as you come across it. I'll be there for Snape tonight and keep it quiet. Then I'll set up something tomorrow morning, early, to see what we can start with Albus. You aren't done with that end, we know it, but I want him in custody, quickly. That way he can't pull something out that will throw us off. Once we have our hands on him, I'll start racking up the charges we can level there. Some of these—I'm not sure what we can do because of how old they are. We'll do what we can, though, and I'm going to press for jail time as well. With the power and influence he had for all those years, we need to make it clear you cannot get away with this. Ever. He had no right to do any of it.”
“What about Fudge?” Amelia asked, nodding, pleased with what she heard so far.
“That we're going to need a couple of more days on. Let me look at what you have here as the charges are going to be trickier. I also want to see what comes of looking into his finances before I land on him. That's coming, I assure you. Influence peddling and corruption alone are easy to make stick in this case. I just want to see the full scope before we do anything else.” He said, sighing. Looking between Amelia, Rufus and Wallias, he asked, “Anything we can do about the Prophet? Or is that all a civil matter?”
“We're not coming up with much there we can do anything with,” Rufus admitted with a sigh and shake of his head. “Mostly, it would be a civil matter to handle. We're still looking. We are going after a couple of the reporters about those memories. Skeeter is in even more trouble because she's an unregistered animagus that used that form to spy on underage children. We can do something there. We'll look into her more closely as we work on what's coming as she's fighting the charges and demanding a full trial. We'll try to jar something, somewhere, loose. If we can make some more serious charges stick, then can prove her bosses knew that's what she was doing, we might be able to do something with the Prophet. It won't be much, but it'll be a slap. If Fudge did exchange money for influence, we can do something there. Right now, we don't know.”
Taking that in then nodding, Angus said, “Keep digging and send me what you get as you come across it. I'll take it from there. At the very least, at some point, someone needs to make an official statement that such collusion should not be allowed, from either side. Hitting them that way will hurt at least.” Smiling a little, he added, “However, I'm pretty sure they're hurting plenty as it is.”
“They are,” Amelia said with a grim smile. “We're making sure that no one, anywhere, is giving up anything. They are getting the standard pat statements, that's all. From what I hear, most departments in the Ministry aren't either. Everyone's too wary over what's happening to give up anything, especially when it comes to helping the entity that assisted in this nightmare.”
“Good,” Angus said, pleased. “Alright, now about sending this bit to Mr. Potter so he knows what the statement says—have you done that? I think it's wise as well. I doubt it'll help us in his eyes, but it's the right thing to do.”
“We have,” Amelia told him with a firm nod. “Wallias got with the French ambassador who referred us to Mr. Potter's solicitor. The man took not only that statement, but a formal letter of apology from Rufus and myself over all the mess that's gone on. It's too little, too late, we know that, but we wanted it done.”
“I would suggest that you get in touch with the new Minister to issue a formal apology as well, Angus,” Wallias said. “Both in the paper, one that isn't the Prophet, and to Mr. Potter personally. You may want to also include a brief rundown of what we're doing here. I doubt the lad is going to believe it or it'll change his mind on anything, but he deserves that.”
“That's something I'll do,” Angus told them all, looking around. “It's well deserved and we need to.” Sighing as he looked at the mass of parchments that was on the desk, he then said, “Send this all on to my office. I'll have a couple of the ones assisting me start going through it to work on the list of formal charges. I have to get down to the court room. We have the first hearing for Petunia and Vernon Dursley in a short time. They're fighting it all as well, so it's not going to take long. Then I have to meet with Umbridge's solicitor. She's putting out feelers for a deal of some kind. I want to see what we can get before I even ponder that.” Seeing everyone nod, Angus stood then swept out, feeling overwhelmed.

Looking up from the textbook he was reading at the kitchen table with Sirius and Remus, Harry's brow furrowed when he saw Lucius coming in. He knew that the man was busy at this time, with all that was going on, so he wasn't apt to come back for lunch or something like that. Concerned, he waited to see what was going on. When Tom followed him in, Harry started to worry. “Is something wrong?” He asked, looking between the two men.
Walking over then taking a seat by Harry, Lucius put a hand on his knee and gave it a pat. Waiting until Tom seated himself across from him, he glanced around at Black and Lupin, then looked at Harry and said, “Nothing's wrong, don't worry. Your solicitor got in contact with me and asked me to pick something up to pass it along to you.” Pulling out the envelope with the official seal for the DMLE on it, he held it out to Harry and said, “They wanted you to have this and went through the French ambassador to get it to you.”
Taking it, Harry looked it over, but didn't make a move to open it. Looking around, seeing concerned looks from Remus and Sirius, he glanced back at Lucius and quietly asked, apprehensive, “What is it? Do you know?” He had already decided he wasn't going to open anything he didn't have an idea of what it was.
“It's a formal apology by Madam Bones, the head of the DMLE, and Rufus Scrimgeour, the head of the Auror department, to you over what happened. That and a copy of Snape's confession about just what Dumbledore did then planned for you. They wanted you to have a copy. There’s also a rundown of what they've done so far with your case.”
Snorting, Harry shook his head then tossed the letter on the table and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don't want to hear it, any of it. It's too late. Whatever anyone has to say on it, I'm not going to listen to and don't rightly care. The rest? I don't want to deal with it now. At some point, I might want to know what that barmy old man planned and did, but I don't now.”
Leaning closer to his young man, Lucius slipped his arm around Harry's shoulders and pulled him close. Holding him there, he said, “That's fine. You don't have to. We just wanted you to get it and tell you what it was, nothing more. I would suggest that you keep hold of it. At some point in the future, you'll probably want to read it.”
Thinking that over, Harry gave a slow nod then said, “Alright, I’ll do that. Just stick it with the rest of the stuff that I'm saving for later. When I think I can handle it, I'll look at it. It's just probably not going to be for a while is all.”
“That's fine,” Tom told him soothingly. “You don't have to look at it until you think you're ready. I'm going to ask to see if you'll allow us to read it. That's your choice entirely, Harry. We promise not to tell you what's in it.”
Pondering that, Harry gave a slow nod. “Go ahead. Just don't tell me anything.”

“They won't,” Lucius said quietly. “Why don't you go grab Padfoot and we'll go outside while they read it. I have to get back soon, but we can spend some time together before I do.” Seeing the young man nod then get up to go get the dog and find his coat, Lucius looked across the table and said, quietly, “Fill me in tonight when I get home.” Seeing Tom nod, he stood to follow Harry.

Standing with Harry on the Quidditch pitch as Padfoot was chasing his ball, Lucius was holding the young man close, his arms wrapped around him. Resting his head against Harry's, he said, quietly, one hand stroking his back, “I can't stay long as I have much to do, but I can for a time. Its fine, Harry, nothing to worry about.”
Nodding, Harry clutched onto Lucius tightly, eyes shut, head resting against the front of his shoulder. “Don't they get that all of this is too little, too late? If they wanted to do something, they should have done it a long time ago.”
“I know,” Lucius soothed softly. “It's still raw and rankles, that I understand. Give it time. Keep in mind that what they are doing is the right thing with no prodding from anyone. At the moment, that probably makes no difference to you. In the future, it may. Just don't let it bother you and go on as you are. I only brought it so you didn't think we were hiding anything from you.”
“Understood,” Harry sighed. Shaking his head, he didn't know what to say about it or how to express that an apology over the mess wasn't going to fix anything. After a couple of moments of silence, he asked, “Tonight, after you take care of all you have to, can we spend the rest of the night alone? Just us. Like curled up in bed talking or something.”
“I believe that's something we can do and will both enjoy,” Lucius told him sincerely. “I'll ensure everyone knows not to bother us.”
“Good,” Harry sighed. “I'll say something to Remus and Sirius so they don't worry.” Though he had tons of questions about all kinds of things related to the mess, he didn't ask because, honestly, he didn't want to know. Instead, he decided to be content to be held by Lucius as they stood there with the snow falling around them.
- 22
- 23
- 24
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

If This Is How You Treat Your Heroes...