...The pleading screams of the man in front of him were still ringing in his ears. It was pathetic to see him like that, hiding away in the cupboard a broken wand clenched in his hand and his lime-green robes covered in blood and urine. He could see his chest rising and falling, he could hear the frantic beating of his heart and the wheezing of air in his throat and his lungs. He could probably kill him with his bare hands. Just close his fingers around his throat and squeeze...
... Harry's forehead was pressed to the cold glass, the raindrops were running diagonally across the window. He was in the car, it looked suspiciously like Draco's black Mercedes. It smelled similar too – a lingering scent of tobacco and Earl Grey tea in the air. Harry didn't know where he was going. He couldn't make out the surroundings, there was only the asphalt road lit by the brightness of the full moon in the sky.
"I always liked driving at night," somebody said from the backseat. A female voice.
"Elise? Is that you?" Harry asked carefully.
"You're not surprised anymore," she chuckled and gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Why is it you that I always see in my head?" he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Dunno... Guilt?" her face morphed to Ginny's confident freckled grin, "You fancy me?" red hair turned platinum blonde and Draco was smirking at him, "You're a tad loony?" Malfoy's stuck up expression became softer and grew a pair of Luna's spectrespecs ... "Pick whichever," Baelish shrugged her shoulders and lit a cigarette between her teeth.
"So, where are we going?" the girl looked at the road ahead.
It was so surreal: one could clearly see the smooth stretch of wet glistening tarmac but it was impossible to tell where the motorway was taking them.
"I... er... have no clue," the Gryffindor said lamely.
"Who's at the wheel, then?" she cocked her head curiously, nodding towards the silhouette on Harry's right.
"It's me," he replied without hesitation.
The person driving had the same messy dark hair and round spectacles, he even wore the same Weasley sweater and washed-off flannel. Still, something felt a bit off about him. Harry couldn't understand it. Maybe it was his tight grip on the steering wheel or maybe that was the fact that he wasn't able to see the driver's face properly.
"Are you sure it's you though?" Elise hummed and took another drag out of her Marlboro, letting out a cloud of thick smoke into the car.
"Of course it's me, who else could it be?" Harry protested crossing his arms defensively.
"Well, aren't you the one sitting in the passenger seat?" the woman pointed out.
And then the realization hit him. Harry was indeed tied down by the constricting seat belt on the left-hand side and someone else was driving the Mercedes. He reached for the driver, trying to get his attention. The person turned his head towards the Gryffindor. He looked exactly like Harry himself. But then an inexplicable change happened. The emerald green eyes turned bright yellow and his lips stretched out in a hideous carnivorous grin full of sharp teeth. An animal sort of growl escaped creature's throat as it lunged itself on Harry.
"What?... What is it?! Help! Help me!" Harry screamed trying to get away from his beastly doppelganger.
"Quick! Push it out of the car!" Elise instructed from the back seat...
... He stopped. The person in front of him whimpered unintelligibly... He was about to attack the hapless man, but there was something that stopped him...
..."I... can't! Can't... it's going to hurt me!" the brunette felt sharp claws on his skin and the saliva dripping from the beast's snarling mouth.
"You are the Savior... Order of Merlin First Class and all that rubbish," she snickered unashamedly, not even trying to give him a hand.
"Oh piss off!" Harry shouted and kicked the creature in its stomach.
He managed to get it away from himself and pry the driver's side door open. The doppelganger was now half-way out of the car...
...Something that felt like a small bird trapped in the cage and was trying its damnedest to get out and end this mad desire to tear and bite and shred everything around him.
Something made him aware of his surroundings: he looked at his fingers, broken fingernails with dried blood under them, sweater covered in dark-brown crust, worn-out jeans, muggle trainers, his cracked spectacles in one of the pockets. He was human, he was an eighteen-year-old lad... He was Harry. Harry Potter.
"Kevin..." he exhaled, looking at the terrified man in front of him. "Are you alright?... I must have scared you... what the hell happened?"
* * *
The door with two serpents was half-open, and there was nobody in the hallway, not even a house-elf to greet him. Draco lifted his wand and the wards let him in easily. The orphanage looked deserted. The walls once covered with colorful posters, children's drawings, and dozens of smiling photographs were now empty, showing only the yellowing wallpaper. The doors to various rooms and chambers were shut and there were no signs on them like before. The shoe-rack which usually was overflowing with Wellies and odd slippers was completely barren. Even the umbrella stand had only one clear plastic muggle brolly in it.
"Homenum revelio!" the Slytherin cast and saw a slight blue light lingering at the end of the hall.
Draco mowed towards it, holding his breath in anticipation of some inevitable danger coming from that part of the building. The spell was shining the strongest at the entrance to the headmistress office. And the knot in his stomach twisted even harder as he realized that the woman must have done something to Harry and probably Millie and Martha as well.
He was about to go inside the room that was glistening with a spell when he felt the whoosh of the wind from the open front door and someone was standing behind him. Draco turned around sharply and saw a disheveled female Auror. She was breathing heavily, her impeccable ponytail a mess, and her crimson uniform unbuttoned.
"Halt! DMLE! Don't you dare move, Malfoy!" the girl gritted, firmly holding a wand and pointing it right at his heart.
"Aren't you a bit zealous?" Draco exhaled lifting his hands to show that he was indeed unarmed. "The Aurors are forbidden to use lethal force at the apprehension... don't forget that..."
He realized that he probably needed to deescalate the situation, however, his bloody mouth just wasn't listening. Something was amusing in the way that female Auror was terrified of a big bad Death Eater who was just barely of age.
"What are you doing here... Are you involved in Potter's kidnapping?!" Amanda demanded in her annoyingly high-pitched voice.
"Potter was kidnapped?... Now that's news to me." he lifted an eyebrow, his mind started going a mile a minute at that very moment.
So he didn't come here on his own? He was abducted? How did that happen?
The Gryffindor had surveillance on him all the time after the incident at the greenhouses. How could the ministry fail that miserably? Now Draco just needed to get to that room before the girl did, to see if Harry was okay. He could feel the iron scent of blood in the air and prayed to all the gods in his mind that Millie was still there and looking after him.
"Listen, you will not get away with it. So just give up," she reminded him, "I'm arresting you!"
"You may do that," the blonde replied calmly, "Or you may actually want to see what is in this room."
With these words, he pressed the door handle to the Matron's office and then almost vomited from the sight. Millie did not lie... there was just so much blood. It felt like it coated every surface, even the curtains were covered in dark-red spatter. There were pieces of mahogany chair and desk scattered around the floor and papers, parchments, books, photographs in shattered frames littering the room.
"What... Expecto... " the stupid bint wanted to call for backup but Draco disarmed her before she could finish the incantation.
"Stop that, you fool! Can't you see there is a chance that you lot might harm him..." he hissed through his clenched teeth.
It was very difficult for him to keep his mind from going blank and spiraling down into another panic attack as the disgusting surroundings reminded him of Aunt Bella's dearest pal Greyback and his style of a crime scene. The girl was silent even though she followed him to the chamber.
"Millie?! Martha?! You there?!" the Slytherin shouted, he looked around the room, dreading to find a corpse or two.
"In here!" he heard a female voice from another door, it probably led to the private quarters.
His classmate was smart enough not to stay in the office all things considered.
"Is Harry with you?! Is he okay?!" Draco cried again, not willing to lead the Auror to some sort of dangerous trap.
"Physically – yeah! Mentally... I dunno. Get in here, will ya!" Millicent sounded annoyed.
"Don't go in there, Malfoy!" the girl whispered urgently. "There might be an inferius!"
He turned his glare towards the Auror, she looked utterly terrified of the scene in front of her and he started to wonder whether it was a good career choice for her after all.
"I will give you your wand back if you promise not to call... or kill anyone. Remember I am a Legillimens I will know if you try," the blonde suggested and Amanda reluctantly nodded.
He tossed her the wand and walked in.
"Potego Maxima!" Draco bellowed when a ball of fire almost hit him in the face.
There were no signs of the Bulstrode sisters. He wondered whether they were in the orphanage at all or was he so easily duped and lead into an obvious trap. His heart sank when he saw Harry propped on the armchair like a lifeless rag doll, his skin was pale, and his clothes were spattered with blood. A bird-like creature was standing over him, her wings stretching almost as wide as the room itself.
"Auntie?! Stop this, please!" the Slytherin pleaded. "Let him go!"
"Kill the girl," the veela replied calmly, "And Potter shall live." She was looking intently at Draco, her black beady eyes demanding surrender to her will.
He heard this order in his head, a thousand voices whispering it to him, but somehow he could easily ignore them once he looked at Harry's unconscious body behind the creature. There was nobody more important for him right now and that realization made him feel sober and more determined to stop this madness. The blonde glanced towards the Auror. Amanda was staring at the creature as though hypnotized, her eyes glassy and lifeless. She was probably affected by her magic.
"Kill her!" the Auntie hissed.
"And what makes you think I would do that?" Draco huffed and moved closer towards the matron.
"Very well! I can take care of that myself!" the veela cackled and then the Auror lifter her hands towards her own neck and started strangling herself.
"Hey! Stop that, you idiot! Don't listen to her!" Draco tried to pry her fingers away but the girl couldn't hear his voice, she was trying her best to finish herself off.
"What are you going to do now, you brat!" the Matron spat and hauled some more fiery spheres towards them.
The furniture and wallpaper around them started to catch fire, the exquisite varnish began to crack and lavishly decorated tapestries were turning into scorched rags. Draco couldn't think he could almost hear the roar of fiendfyre in his ears as he succumbed to panic. The girl fell to the floor and was gasping for air, her face was turning blue and her eyes bulged out almost comically. It was quite difficult to try to cast the Shield Charms and prevent the Auror from harming herself.
If only there was a way to make her stop. To somehow get this fixation out of her head...
A mad idea struck him as he dodged another flaming attack. He took a steadying breath, trying to calm his nerves and then muttered the spell to dive inside Amanda's mind.
... there is a child's bedroom and a little girl is hiding under the bed... someone's large hand roughly drags her from her hideout... the girl sobs uncontrollably as an ugly muggle lifts his hand with a belt in it ready for a strike... Draco reaches for the limb, grabs the weapon, and wrestles it away from the tyrant... the girl is looking at him gratefully with her two large red-rimmed eyes...
The room unraveled back into the reality, it was so hot around, the flame was slowly getting closer and the veela was still standing over them like some sort of avenging angel of death. Amanda stopped struggling and was desperately gulping smoke-filled air, she wasn't staring at the creature anymore. The spell was broken.
"Malfoy! We need to get away from here!" she croaked, her wand was already casting a Patronus charm to call the reinforcements.
"No! She has him! We can't go without him!" Draco protested.
"We wait for back up!" she insisted as another portion of fire rained down on them.
"NO!"
He could see Harry's lifeless face illuminated by the embers and remembered how that brave idiot came back for him in the Room of the Requirement.
"You have no power over me, you hag! Crucio!" His knuckles turned white from the sheer grip on his wand as he cast the spell on the veela.
Auntie let out a shriek and folded her enormous wings, she fell to the floor and started writhing in pain. Her bird-like appearance was quickly fading away into human features as the curse was making her body suffer through excruciating pain.
"Stop it at once!" the female Auror yelled and Draco lowered his wand reluctantly. "How dare you... Blatantly using an unforgivable in the presence of the law enforcement!"
"You have a dangerous magical creature that just attacked a person that you were supposed to protect! And started a goddamn fire!" the blonde snapped back, "I think you have much more important things to attend to!"
He didn't care one goddamn bit if there was a whole squad of DMLE waiting to arrest him. There was a small chance that the Orphanage's wayward magic wards were strong enough not to give away his transgression. In any way, he really hoped that him saving the bint's life would count for something. She cast a full body bind on the veela and moved towards Potter to check on him.
"He's alive," Amanda announced and grinned at him tiredly.
The black liquid from the paper cup tasted vile but there wasn't anything else he could drink so that would have to do. The waiting room bench was hard and uncomfortable as was the glare of the fluorescent lights and the annoying electric hum of the vending machine. That contraption had spat out that nonsense some might call coffee into Draco's cup a few minutes before.
"They put him on the IV-drip for a bit," the Auror said when she came back from the nurse's station.
"Can I see him?" Draco asked immediately.
"Not yet, but I think a little disillusionment charm might work when the nurses won't be looking," she added sympathetically.
He did not know what to make out of her. That Auror was so painfully by the book one minute and then helped him avoid being taken into custody another. From that little information that he discovered about her when he dove into her mind, he could tell she was a muggle-born.
"You seem to know your way around a muggle hospital," the blonde looked at her curiously. "Are you even an Auror?"
"I am... Well, sort of... I am undercover." she admitted.
"That might explain why I am not in Azkaban yet and Potter's not back at Saint Mungo's," Draco chuckled lightly and ran his hands through his hair. "So what are you? MACUSA? M16? Interpol? "
"CIA," Amanda provided.
He studied her expression to find some hint of a joke but the girl was dead serious.
"And you're telling me all this, because?" Draco lifted an eyebrow.
"We want to recruit you," she said. "You are a skillful wizard and you clearly have some talent for Legillimency. We need people like you on the field."
He scoffed at the offer. Nobody wanted anyone like him. He was marked, a junkie, and probably completely fucked in the head. It was a miracle that he hadn't offed himself yet.
"How come a complete amateur like you works for the muggle intelligence agency," the Slytherin asked eventually.
"Well," she grinned apologetically, "It is a muggle agency. And sometimes being mediocre is important for blending in. Robards would not let me be all up in his business with the Death Eaters if I were exceptional."
"So, you were up in my business since January because you wanted to recruit me?"
"That Entrails Expelling curse was excellent," Amanda gave him a crooked smile. "I know it is sudden, but given your... erm, circumstances, you sort of have a few choices left. For what it's worth, we will grant you and your mother a safe passage out of the country and all the paperwork and a new identity. All you need is to say yes."
"What about him?"
Draco looked towards the corridor of the ICU where they had taken Harry. He did not trust the muggle medical system, but he knew that the law enforcement would be all over them if they went somewhere else, so he had no choice but to have faith that those muggle doctors would help him. Her gaze followed the people in scrubs and then she signaled to Draco that the coast was clear. He quickly enveloped them both in a spell and they moved soundlessly into the hospital room.
Potter seemed peaceful albeit a bit pale and exhausted. Some machines were beeping a steady heart rhythm and there were tubes attached to him. A cold shiver ran down Draco's back when he realized that Harry could have murdered someone in that orphanage. He looked completely ordinary and vulnerable and human at that moment.
"I'm afraid Mister Potter doesn't need to know about any of this. And especially about that poor Healer." the girl said gravely.
"Did he... did he kill that man?" the Slytherin asked carefully.
"He was still alive when I found him in that cupboard... so I cannot tell for sure," the Auror replied.
"I can't accept your offer! Yaxley is still at large and with me gone he would go straight for Harry," Draco shook his head.
"Well, I am sure there is something we can do about that. Here... we'll probably be waiting a while, " Amanda patted him on the shoulder and offered an unhealthy looking chocolate bar to the blonde.