Confisio Suprema

Cherchez la femme

It took many hours for Harry to wake up slightly from his potion intoxication, and the awakening was not pleasant at all. He woke up to an excruciating, searing pain that made him moan and grit his teeth.

"Harry..."

He wasn't alone in the room. This finding was already alarming. For a moment, he hoped Draco was with him, taking his hands in his and easing his pain. But the voice was female.

"Mrs. Malfoy?"

"Harry, is it too bad?"

Harry realised that he had literally been drugged against his will last night and decided to lie instead.

"It can be endured."

"You're lying. You're lying to me because you don't trust me," Narcissa said.

"Are you surprised?" Harry sneered. "I need to get home. I don't want any more potions."

"Harry, this potion won't hurt you. It's Draco's invention. I will not give you what my husband gave you yesterday."

"Don't get me wrong, but I don't believe you," snapped Harry. "I don't understand one thing. Why did Mr Malfoy want to put me to sleep?"

"Lucius is worried about you, and I'm not surprised. All it takes is one more bout of mistrust..."

"I know," Harry said harshly. "I can die. But I won't disappoint you again. It won't happen to me again!"

"We both know it's not that easy to control your emotions in situations like this." Narcissa's voice was calm and convincing. She didn't know what to do. In any case, she didn't have much faith in her husband's actions. He has proven many times that strategic planning is not his forte. An alliance with Potter seemed like a better option to her.

Harry desperately needed Draco's pain potion, or he couldn't think clearly. Can he trust Narcissa? He followed his intuition and drank the potion. The pain lessened slightly, and the head remained clear.

Harry thought aloud. "I think it was a mistake to stop investigating the case I was working on. Maybe there is a connection. Maybe someone doesn't want me to solve the case and is trying to put me out of business. As absurd as it sounds, I'll go back to the original case and look for clues there."

"Harry... There's one more thing you need to know. Lucius is impersonating you and has just left for the Ministry."

The Auror thought. "This is actually an excellent strategy that can help us a lot. In the meantime - with your help, if you allow - I can continue my investigation. I will need my notebook and notes. Do you think one of your house elves could get them for me?"

---

Harry worked undisturbed, using wandless magic to open individual folders and files. A pretty convincing hypothesis was soon forming in his head. The time he wasn't working on the Neo-Death Eaters case proved to be beneficial - the case settled nicely in his head, and now everything made sense.

In the afternoon, he requested another issue of the Daily Prophet. It was clear from Narcissa's reluctance to show him the paper that the captor had struck again. It was touching how she held her wand at the ready - she obviously had a plan that if he acted recklessly, she would take him down with some kind of curse that would prevent him from jealousy, which could cause him death.

Harry bravely opened the newspaper. Draco Malfoy and his new boyfriend have just arranged a wedding ceremony with a wedding agency and will not skimp on it. We'll be bringing you details from the wedding soon. We are as excited about it as you are! Yours, Rita Skeeter.

Draco is in the arms of the same man, eyes covered by glasses. No doubt, he is under the Imperius. Therefore, no one can see his eyes. And the free hand again signals a gesture of calling for help, perhaps more desperately than before.

Harry didn't hesitate for a second this time. "Draco, I trust you, and I'm coming for you," he said out loud as if he'd forgotten that Narcissa was standing over him in a protective stance.

"Harry, you are so brave," she said with a mixture of admiration, gratitude, and relief.

Um. I could also get a photo of Draco in bed with the guy... I probably wouldn't manage.

A few hours later, Lucius returned. Narcissa warned Harry as they had agreed. Harry slipped into bed in no time and pretended to be fast asleep. Lucius personally came to check on him. Harry overheard part of the conversation he had with Narcissa.

"Good thing he's sleeping, poor thing. Have you read The Prophet? It would kill him. I never thought I'd say this, but I quite like Potter. When you see how much he cares about Draco..."

"Yes, yes," Narcissa nodded.

"Everyone in the ministry respects him. I was totally jealous of him, I'd never been given such respect. It made me uncomfortable how nicely people treated me when they thought I was Potter."

A wave of gratitude surged through Harry's chest.