Who Will Stop the Rain

The Augurey

Draco ducked into a quiet alleyway, his body pressed against the rough brick wall and he listened. There were no shouts or sounds of heavy footfalls, only his own ragged breaths and the rain beating off of the pavement. Potter seemed to have kept his word, after all.

Draco closed his eyes, taking a moment to catch his breath. Just when he had dared to hope that he had a chance of saving his son, the Ministry were now after him. The universe had yet again proven that things could always get worse, much worse. Then Potter of all people had come out as an unlikely ally. Granger and Potter helping a Malfoy: the world really had gone mad.

He pulled the Augurey figurine out of his pocket, his hands shaking badly as he unfolded it to reveal the address of the fourth and final trial. His irate eyes darted across the parchment as he read.

"Sadler's Well Theatre, Islington," he muttered. Draco had never been to the theatre - his parents wouldn't be seen dead frequenting Muggle establishments - but surprisingly, he knew where it was. He had passed it enough times on route to and from King's Cross every year when he was going to Hogwarts. It was only a five minute drive from the train station.

Anticipation and fear pulsed through him. He was so close to the end, but he knew this was where he would most likely fail. Now was not the time to lose his head or his concentration. Taking a few steadying breaths to calm his nerves, he pictured the theatre in his mind, took a step forwards and Disapparated.

After overseeing the search for clues at The Leaky, Harry Apparated back to the Ministry. The search provided no clue as to Malfoy's current whereabouts, but the evidence they had gathered (washi paper, bloodied rags and parchment in Malfoy's handwriting listing the locations where the previous victims of the Origami Killer had been found) didn't paint the man in a particularly positive light. Of course Harry knew that Malfoy hadn't killed those boys, but he could see how suspicious it looked. Malfoy was many things, but he wasn't a killer.

The image of Goyle's body flashed through Harry's mind and his stomach twisted horribly. He supposed Malfoy was capable of more than he gave him credit for. That was different, he reasoned. You do what you have to for your children. He marched down the Atrium, his eyes trailing over the various Undesirable posters that were plastered on the walls either side of him, his eyes fixing on two posters in particular:

UNDESIRABLE NO.1
The Origami Killer
Wanted in connection with the MURDER of eight wizarding children.
Any information leading to the arrest of this perpetrator will be duly rewarded.

The centre of the poster remained conspicuously blank, a large question mark in place of where the photograph of a suspect ought to be. Harry had looked into the face of evil many times in his life - having a Dark Lord rattling about your head for a few years gives you a unique insight into the mind of a killer - but he would never understand the mindset of any person who would target children. Well, he could...he just didn't want to understand. His eyes flitted to the next poster and found Draco Malfoy's face staring back at him:

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?
Draco Malfoy, Death Eater
Wanted in connection with the MURDER of Gregory Goyle.
Contact the Ministry of Magic immediately if you have any information concerning his whereabouts. Failing to report will result in imprisonment.

Malfoy's haughty expression sneered at Harry as he walked passed. He sighed and rubbed his tired face. It had been four days since Scorpius had gone missing. Time was running short, he only hoped that he'd given his father enough time to find him and save him. The mess with Goyle wasn't going to go away - they could be dealt with it later. Hermione, however - that was a different matter entirely.

The elevator doors slid open and Harry stepped in alone, punching two on the elevator button. As the doors clanked shut he took his brief moment of solitude to bury his face into his hands and scream in frustration. Guilt crashed over him in great tidal waves. It was all his fault. He had dragged Hermione into this mess, now thanks to him she was likely to get a criminal record. Despite his best efforts, everything had gone to shit. The bodies were piling up, Hermione was on the wrong side of the law, and he was about to lose his job (the least of his long list of worries). Everyone's lives were falling apart and he had no clue how to even begin fixing any of it.

As the elevator doors opened, Harry composed himself again, striding as quickly as he could to the interview rooms short of breaking out into a run. Pushing open the door to the only one that was occupied, he stepped inside.

Hermione sat at the table with her head in her hands. Her head snapped up as the door opened and she jumped to her feet.

"Harry!" she cried.

"Sit down, Hermione," he asked, sinking into the seat on the opposite side of the table. Hermione sat on the edge of hers, looking tense.

"Harry, I'm sorry I got into a fight with the Aurors--"

"You resisted arrest and helped a murder suspect escape," Harry pointed out. Hermione gaped.

"Murder," she breathed. "Surely you don't think he's the Origami Killer."

"No, but a lot of other people in the precinct think that he is," he sighed. "He's wanted in connection with the murder of Gregory Goyle."

Hermione's eyes widened, "Goyle? You think Draco did it?"

"We know he did," said Harry. "But I suspect it's connected with the Origami Killer."

Hermione didn't look as shocked by that revelation as she should have. Harry rolled his eyes - she definitely knew more than she was letting on. He felt a fresh stab of guilt as he looked at Hermione.

"I'm so sorry for dragging you into this mess, Hermione," he sighed. "I'll see what I can do about getting the charges against you dropped."

"There's no time to worry about me," Hermione argued, waving her hand dismissively. "You need to find Draco. He's going to get himself killed."

Harry frowned, "What are you talking about?"

Hermione decided now was the time to tell Harry everything. She told him about the killer contacting Malfoy, about the trials, and about the final message challenging Malfoy to forfeit his own life for the sake of his son's.

"I don't trust the killer to keep up their end of the bargain," Hermione finished. "But Draco insisted on going on his own. I was going to follow him, but then your lot turned up."

"So where is he?" asked Harry. There was a loud knock at the door and Neville stepped in. Harry frowned at him.

"We're in the middle of an interview," he chastised. "Now isn't the time--"

"This can't wait," Neville cut in, thrusting paperwork into Harry's hands. "We know who the killer is."

Hermione and Harry gaped at Neville.

"You're certain?" asked Harry, flipping open the chart. Neville nodded.

"We ran with what we knew about the soil samples and carried out searches of wizarding homes in the Devonshire area, as per your instructions. Ron's parents weren't too happy about having their house searched, but they cooperated nonetheless. The Lovegoods and the Fawcetts were no trouble, either. But when we went to the Diggory's residence, nobody was in. But we found these in the front garden."

Neville pulled out a photograph of Amos Diggory's house and Harry felt his bloody run cold.

"Narcissi," he breathed. The garden was covered in bright, yellow daffodils. Neville placed two other photographs in front of Harry.

"We found this in the garden," said Neville grimly. The first photo was of a large greenhouse. The second was of inside the greenhouse, it was filled with small green shrubs with pale yellow blossoms.

"Gampi shrubs," Neville confirmed. "Same ones used to make the washi paper. The paper the killer used to make the origami figurines."

Harry stared up at Neville in disbelief. "It can't be him."

Neville nodded solemnly, "We found plenty evidence on the premises that confirms as much. We've sent out a red alert to capture him."

"Amos Diggory," said Harry, still unable to believe the words as he said them. "Is the Origami Killer."