Draco Malfoy, Broken

Chapter 66 - Maneuvers

Chapter 66 – Maneuvers

Published – 1/29/2020

Harry led the way back to the common room. Blaise and Draco walked behind him, not talking. Harry could feel that Draco was upset with him, scared about what happened. He wanted to wait until they were in their dorm room to talk about it. His hands were still trembling as the adrenaline slowly wore off. Exhaustion was starting to settle in, but he wasn't out of it, yet. He had to make sure that Draco was okay. They had to talk about it.

When he walked into the common room, he motioned for Hermione, Luna, Ginny, Daphne, Theo and Neville to join them. He wasn't sure why he wanted Ginny and Luna, but he had a feeling that they should be a part of this, if they weren't already.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione asked, as soon as the wards went up.

"I just got back from seeing Hopkirk and the minister. Sit down, everyone," Harry said, gaining his stride and pleased that they all listened, even Blaise.

Theo and Daphne sat on his trunk, Neville and Hermione took Blaise's, and Blaise took a seat next to Draco on his. Luna jumped onto Draco's bed and sat in the middle with her legs crossed, Ginny next to her.

"Most of you know some of what is going on, but we all need to get on the same page," Harry started, looking at Luna and Ginny, and then to Draco.

"There's a conspiracy at the Ministry. A group of Death Eaters and their collaborators are actively taking over to gain power and hide their war crimes. They are what is left of Voldemort's forces, at least the part that still wants power. They will do anything to silence their opposition and hide their involvement in the war. I know we could just chalk it up to the Ministry being the corrupt, bureaucratic power hub it has always been... but this is worse. To me the war is not over..." he trailed off and looked at his friends.

Draco's hand was shaking and Blaise took it. Daphne leaned into Theo, who wrapped his arm around her. Neville retained a death stare at the floor. Hermione had some tears in her eyes. Ginny looked pissed, but Luna took her hand and smiled. This wasn't news to her.

"It started?" Hermione asked.

"No... judgment day has been delayed..." Harry smirked.

"Harry..." Hermione sighed.

"But... it's bad. Draco... I want to be clear that I trust you. I always did, but I just had a feeling I couldn't tell you about all this, yet."

"And you were right," Blaise murmured.

Draco nodded. "I understand, Harry. I'm not stupid... and I knew you were up to something."

"Wait... Harry was right and you telling him, now? What happened?" Hermione asked, worriedly.

"Well, Draco has a new probation officer and Dawlish is gone. So, Draco's there's no one else that can force it out of you, right?" Harry asked, kneeling down in front of him.

Draco shook his head, but Blaise said, "No, SAD is the only threat here. I asked him under the Veritaserum."

Hermione jolted at that and everyone looked at Draco who frowned and said, "Technically... the Ministry can still order me to talk."

"The Ministry isn't going to get their greasy hands on you, again," Harry vowed with every fiber of his soul.

Draco's grey eyes looked at him. "Maybe, maybe not... but with what is at stake, I won't tell them anything, willing. I was getting pretty good at resisting it."

"You were?" Harry asked.

"You can beat Veritaserum?" Blaise said, shocked.

"Not beat it, per se, but answer only parts of the question that I want to... if I'm not too emotionally-affected. I didn't lie about anything to you," Draco whispered, and Blaise accepted it.