Healing // d.m.

| 52 |

  GRINGOTTS was broken into. 

  Successfully this time.

  And they found Shacklebolt's body by the front of the vault, drained of blood.

  In the midst of a raging war, the Minister of Magic is dead.

  Draco was late for what was supposed to be a weekly meeting, only to find it being canceled and he was ordered to go to the North side of Diagon Alley. All Ministry personnel were split into two groups. One was to go to the site immediately, assessing the damage, the other would be in charge of the security of the people.

  When Draco arrived, the scene was beyond packed. Deep down he was relieved that Catherine has her test tomorrow, which means she would be stuck in the house, not wanting to venture out of her bedroom. He placed extra layers of protective charms around her house before leaving.

  "What took you so long?" Theo asked him. He did not need to know that Draco couldn't leave the bed with Catherine's naked body pressed against his. He spent an hour after their alarm ringing licking her body until he screamed her name.

  Pansy, Adrian and Blaise were there too. Everyone's expressions were grim, talking in low hushed tones. He wondered how long before it would be on the front of the daily prophet.

  "Found anything?" Draco kneeled near the dead body. There were no signs of struggle or restraint. His body was facing down, his head facing to the side. There was a hole the size of a tennis ball straight in his stomach.

  "No, but the vault was opened with his hands and the stone is gone."

  Draco figured that much but he wanted to know if this was staged, forced or just something else. Shacklebolt had been absent throughout this war and now he's dead.

  They talked about who might have been behind this. Familiar names popping up, some new ones that Draco did not recognise. Harry and Ron had an extensive list of the death eaters now working under his father's power. Their worth was half of their own army. But with four stones in their possession, no amount of shield would stand a chance.

  And the only person who was key to all those powers was his woman.

  Draco wanted to vomit at the thought.

  "Did they find anything in the vault?"

  Harry shook his head, "It was laced with dark magic, but other than that, they found nothing."

  Adrian stepped inside the destroyed vault ahead of Draco. They all looked around and the burnt marks scattered on the rock walls. There was an eerie aura as soon as he was inside. Like someone wanted to suck the soul of his body and drink it to death.

  Pansy began scanning the pile of ash in the middle. She extended her hand wanting to find out what it was but Blaise held her hand and shouted, "Don't touch anything!"

  "It's a concealment charm." Pansy announced, "it's so thick and laced with dark magic."

  "So they're hiding their tracks." Theo added, "no surprise there."

  Pansy went out of the vault and looked at Shacklebolt's body again. "You can conceal an object for long periods of time, but to a person the concealment ends along with their life."

  "What does that mean?" Ron was suddenly intrigued.

  "What if Shacklebolt was their puppet? And they used the concealment charm on him?"

  Theories began rushing out of everyone's mouth but Draco kept silent. If they were hiding Shacklebolt from them, then he must be working for them. He was not a double agent that's for sure, he did not give them a pebble of help.