Thicker than Water (Marauders Era) PART II

24 December, 1996 - Concerns

Lavinia had braced herself for several possible reactions to her question, but the groan and eye-roll she received was not one of them. She'd expected anger, or confusion, or excitement to talk about his supposed obsession, or maybe just annoyance even, but this was... well. This was resignation. Like he'd rather hoped she had something more interesting to discuss but at the same time, wasn't entirely surprised that this was her topic of choice.

"Let me guess," he began, pursing his lips slightly, "You're going to tell me that I'm wrong and there's no way Voldemort wants someone who's that inexperienced."

Lavinia blinked at him. "No," she replied honestly, frowning slightly.

Harry stared at her. "No?" he repeated, evidently shocked by the admission. "So... you don't think I'm wrong?"

Lavinia tipped her head to the side. "I don't know what you think," she admitted with a slight shrug. "Dumbledore just said -"

"Dumbledore brought this up to you?" Harry demanded, shock and something like annoyance coloring the world.

Lavinia frowned, not immediately sure why. "Yes..." she began, admittedly a bit hesitantly. "He said you'd mentioned it to him. And I gather he wasn't the only one who was concerned by it."

"Concerned by it? So now he's telling you about his concerns about me?"

Lavinia frowned again. "I'm your godmother," she pointed out. "And if you must know, he wanted me to tell you to drop it. And I refused."

Harry blinked at her. That was clearly not what he'd expected. Lavinia sighed again and shook her head. "Anyway, she pressed, he said you thought the attack on Katie Bell was somehow related to Draco Malfoy."

"Oh," he muttered. "Yeah, I do," Harry agreed, perking up and seeming to gather some steam, clearly excited to have an audience who wasn't dismissing his claims right off as, Lavinia could guess, most of the other Order Members had. "I think Voldemort recruited him to be a Death Eater and now he's up to something. Only I don't know what. But I heard him telling his mates that he doesn't expect to be at Hogwarts next year and Snape mentioned his 'master' and... well. If he was a Death Eater it would explain a few things." He paused here, then frowned, seeming to deflate slightly. "But so could other things. As everyone has pointed out."

Lavinia hummed noncommittally. This wasn't exactly the conversation she'd had in mind when she'd asked her godson to talk. If she was being entirely honest, she wanted to find out more about why he was so interested in the Malfoy child's role in all this, but... well. She supposed they'd get there.

So she sighed and answered the unspoken question in Harry's eyes as honestly as she could. "I'm sure other things could explain it," she replied with a slight shrug. "But so could your theory, so I don't see any reason to rule either out."

Harry's frown, which had formed from the moment she'd started speaking, deepened slightly. "So... you don't think he's too young? Hermione reckons Voldemort wouldn't want underage wizards."

Lavinia pursed her lips slightly. Too young? Of course he was too young. Just like Harry and Jasmine and all of them were too damn young to be involved in a war. But that wasn't what he was asking.

"The Dark Lord has never particularly cared what age his Death Eaters are," she murmured, unable to keep a heavy kind of sadness from her voice. And perhaps it was this that Harry heard, or perhaps the words themselves caught him, but either way, he raised his brows slightly in what Lavinia took as a silent prompt to explain.

She felt her shoulders drop slightly and glanced away, studying the lurid orange posters advertising the Chudley Cannons that were hung all over the walls. "My brother was sixteen when he received his Dark Mark," she told him quietly, tuning away from the Quidditch posters to meet Harry's eyes again. "My childhood best friend was seventeen. Most of my friends, actually, had their Marks by the time they graduated school," she admitted with a little sniff. "So, no, Harry, I don't think Draco Malfoy is too young for the Dark Lord to have taken an interest."