Chapter 2
Draco’s eyes curiously looked over what the box contained, it was hard to look away from the smaller vial’s shimmer as it danced around the container like the reflection of water. Beside it sat a rather bulky old fashioned key, a twine of magical string tied in a little frail bow around it. His eyes finally trailed over a few of the objects displayed in the Pensieve case, trying to see if anything had a closed lock. There was no such thing displayed so his eyes moved back to the vial in the box. “You’ve seen this, then?” Draco asked curiously, his gaze trailing to Potter. He nodded. “It’s more complicated to explain without visuals, to Tori anyways.”
“I’m aware.” He cut Potter off, if this is answers from Tori, he’d rather let the memories do the talking. He gently picks up the vial to give it another look over. “It’s not her memories, Malfoy. Their Dumbledore’s.” Potter tells him, turning to stand on the other side of the Pensieve. Draco’s eyebrows crease in confusion, why would she keep something like this so locked up? From the man that raised her to be a soldier for the Order, their weapon. “Like I said.” Potter cut off his thought process before even letting it begin. “It’s more complicated to try and explain out loud for her. Albus knew that, and decided to handle things this way for her.”
A moment of silence and recognition passed between them, looking between the vial and each other before both their eyes finally land on the Pensieve lit and swirling to await the memory. Draco finally takes in the deep breath his body desperately craved, allowing his sturdy mental brick walls to create a window. “Feels wrong, to see this without her.” He admitted quietly as his eyes watch the memories light twinkle. “I know, but I know her. You are not someone she would want to hide this from.” Potter’s voice was surprisingly calm, as if he had been practicing his own Occlumency to get through this situation as well. “And until we get her back, I know just as well as you do that neither of our minds are exactly in the clear. And selfishly I can’t keep being the only one to have this information.” Potter admitted quietly as well, as Draco gave him a solemn nod of agreement to their silent understanding of how this needed to go. Secrets, believe it or not, was something Draco Malfoy was rather good at.
His tight grip on the vial finally gave out as he passes it to Potter, keeping his Occlumency at the bare minimum as to be able to retain all he can from this. Potter nods along with him, uncapping the vial to slowly drip it into the swirling magic inside the Pensieve.
Dropping into memories that aren’t Potter’s with Potter was a strange feeling, never the less dropping dizzily into a scene that Draco didn’t understand. The grey and black figures swirling into people standing around a small cottage like living area, discussing something. Potter was standing stiffly beside him, watching the scene unravel in a kind of nostalgic way. “Watch.” He whispered to Draco, keeping his eyes locked forward.
Three swirling figures turned into two, showing a small child in the hands of one, and an even smaller baby in the others. The two figures turned back into three, then four. They all smiled cautiously as if contemplating, looking hastily around the room the figures started to finally come into focus more. It was Dumbledore and, the Potters? Young and anxiously starring at the children then back at the grand wizard. Draco’s eyes locked on the little baby girl in Lily Potter’s arms, before another figured swirled in to join the scene and rush towards her. It was Remus Lupin, looking sweaty and concerned as the scenes sounds begin to echo as if Draco were listening underwater. “Are you sure? Are we ready? Do you really think I can do this? What about little Harry? Where’s Sirius?” The young Remus was asking Dumbledore rapidly, his voice showing little to no confidence. “We all have our parts to play, Moony. This is yours.” James Potter stood tall to shake his friend on the shoulders, smiling hopefully at him. “Sirius has a part to play, we’re counting on you.”
Remus’s eyes twitchily switch back and forth between the Potter’s and Dumbledore before nodding quickly to open his arms up which were squeezed very tight to himself. “Alright.” He tried to say with confidence, as Lily kissed the younger baby softly and placed her into Lupin’s arms. She mumbled something quietly and inaudible to Draco, but as his eyes moved to Harry he clearly was trying to understand it as well. Lily placed a small plush Pygmy Puff with a necklace around its neck into the tucked part of Remus’ arm, as she wearily gives him a look before he Appirated away with the baby. Harry let out an audible sigh, as the scene stood still for a moment, only breaking once the young boy currently being held by his father made a strange noise. Lily’s eyes finally broke from the spot where Remus’ and the baby stood, looking back at James and smiling at little Harry Potter. Hagrid, Sirius and Pettigrew swirl into view along a barrier of the living room, everyone mumbling more incohesive plans as the scene of the memory begins to take away the visual and start to build a new scene.
Draco shifts in his stance, leaning side to side on his feet to regain any sort of study footing he can. Potter’s eyes watched him carefully as the new visuals come more into focus around them. “You already knew, didn’t you?” He asked Draco with a slight confusion to the lift of his brow.
“I figured to an extent, but I didn’t know for sure no.” Draco honestly tells him, letting his eyes catch the sight of the forest he recognized so well.
The scene shows Lupin walking and smiling telling something to the almost new born, leaning on a tree inside the forest and pulling out his wand to conjure down a few leaves from the trees, swirling them around the little girl with a wide grin. His eyes jerked up suddenly looking towards the direction further into the forest, and he steadies himself slowly. In a wisp of light in the memory swirls in the same direction, as the centaur’s leader Ronan gallops into site. He bows to Lupin as they speak in a muffled tone once again, it happens quickly however... because the memory swirls into a changed one again to Ronan trotting up to the entrance of Hogwarts, a new born cold little girl held possessively in his arms before finally handing the crying child to Albus Dumbledore inside the castle doors.
As the next swirl of memory aggressively took over the view in front of them, Potter seemed to look at this one more fondly as he walked confidently into it. “This one is a personal favorite.” He whispered to himself, as Draco too took a deep breath before following him. A familiar feeling starting to click in as Dumbledore and Newt Scamander began to come into clear view, looking out one of the windows inside the headmasters office at the castle.
“Her training with Theseus has been abysmal, Albus. But I wonder if you could allow me some time with her to work on her other strengths.” Mr Scamander nervously places with his hands clasped behind his back.
“I’ve seen this one, but not from this perspective.” Draco let out quietly with a small smile, moving towards the window. Below them in the castles courtyard was Tori, dueling with Theseus Scamander, one of the best Aurors the Ministry has ever had the pleasure of having. Draco’s eyes watched with awe as she almost floated around the spells thrown her way, as if it were a dance. “Then you know what happens when he disarms her.” Potter’s voice broke his concentration as he chuckled, watching his beautiful witch casting through her wand the kinds of spells and charms no one her age should even be able to think about let alone cast on her own. His smile widened. “One of my favorites as well.” He whispered, as suddenly Theseus quickly casts her wand into her hands. A loud caw behind them echo’s throughout the memory as Draco turns to see the large red Phoenix flap its wings before lunging throughout the window and towards Tori below. Theseus looks up to the bird in confusion, watching it dive fast into the direction Tori was standing disarmed. As the bird flew close to her she swirled up into its wings, as they both disappear into the small flame left behind from the birds wings. Draco looks up to the castles highest points as Tori and the bird reappear into vision, sitting on top of the peaks with a large childish smile of excitement. As Draco admires the almost ease in which she lays back on the peak, the bird flourishes its wings widely before entering back into the castle. The adults all erupt into loud cheering for her, calling her name as Dumbledore sends her a wink before the entire scene aggressively swirls out of view.
This throws Draco off balance for a moment, still in awe of the pure joy Tori seemed to have while training. He almost wished she still felt that way, but her love and enjoyment for the magic she used in her training has been tainted by all these people using her for protection. As a weapon or even a shield. He regathered his mental brick walls to make sure he couldn’t act out from his frustration, allowing him to keep his eyes shut as he took a deep breath.
By the time he came back into himself, the scene was already in motion. Except that this time it wasn’t a single scene playing in front of them like before, no sounds to keep them involved.
“They did this often.” Potter’s voice broke the silence, as they watched dozens of different scenes surrounding them. Dozens of different Tori’s and Dumbledore’s throughout the years walking along the castles boundaries and walls. Most of the Tori’s surrounding him were all differently ages, but the Dumbledore’s almost looked the same. “I always thought… or hoped.” Potter started. “That this was a time for them to speak freely, some calm times to enjoy together. I thought this was ‘their time.’” Potter’s jaw clenched as he fixed his glasses before taking a deep breath. “It wasn’t. All these personal walks he would take her out of training for, were just information dumps. Teaching her the wards on the castle, the grounds. How the castle’s magic reacts to certain things.”
“Did you expect some heartfelt, genuine personal time between them Potter?”
“I expected there to be SOME genuine care there.” He gritted through his teeth at the idea. Clearly expecting some kind of caring relationship between them.
“Dumbledore knew those things wouldn’t have mattered in the long run, and that’s all that man could think about.” Draco admitted to him carefully, making sure the tone of his voice could show Potter that he felt the same frustrations.
“She deserved more.”
“She actively, deserves more.” Draco whispers quietly, watching a certain scene where Dumbledore is walking Tori to the bridge outside the castle grounds. Probably showing her the apparition points or even what guards the boundaries around the castle.
The scene swirls away aggressively once again, as even Potter struggled to keep his feet sturdy.
“Before this one starts, I need to say something.” Potter’s voice cracking through the still silence was jarring. “I didn’t know. All the training and preparation Dumbledore was putting her through, I had no idea. I thought we were just a bunch of kids, thrown into situations that felt so unfair.”
“Is this a confession, Potter?”
“No, but it is my reasoning.” Harry responded to him wearily, almost in shame. Draco gave him a stiff nod.
The scene was dark at first, lots of strange humming bouncing off of whatever walls were unseen around them. Finally, Tori comes into view, standing in front of The Veil. The swirling and humming around them coming into view of magic flying quickly and aggressively throughout the air. She was still as her eyes studied the magical arch, listening to the now abundantly clear sounds of screams surrounding her. Next to her in the scene, is Lupin tightly wrapping his arms around Potter. The scream leaving his mouth was out of sync with the visual, as Tori’s stance didn’t even budge. “She was listening to Sirius; he fell into The Veil right before this.” Potter admitted quietly as he moved swiftly to look her in the eyes. “I didn’t even know she was connecting with it.” His hand cautiously whooshed through the ghostly grey scene of Tori, almost like he was trying to hold her hand. Her hand that Draco had just noticed, was grazing over the swirls coming from the arch… touching the lost souls held inside it.
Once Potter broke from Lupin’s grip in the scene, it was like an instant reaction. Two steps was all Potter took before she turned on her heal so fast that the swirl of the memory couldn’t even keep up. Lupin’s hand reached for hers but a blast of magic pushed him out of grabbing distance, as she lunged into the hallway behind Potter the voice of the Dark Lord echoes throughout the memory. The memory tried to swirl and change but instead it moved them, shifting them through the walls of the Ministry and into the hallway with all the entrance fireplaces. The scene turned into one of horror as Draco sees the site of Tori gasping for air on her knees, Potter sitting in front of her to do the same. Her eyes were locked on his but with the strange cloud of Occlumency fogging any colour of her eyes. Potter was watching this part of the memory very carefully, watching how she shifted on the ground, how the veins in her neck strained as her skin began to turn red. “She knocked him out of my mind, don’t ask me how the fuck she did that, but she did.”
“She took him into hers.” Draco answered him quickly, seeing the gushing wound on her side that he himself would heal just a little less than an hour later. Watching the scene continue as the Dark Lord’s menacing laugh became the loudest part of the memory, barreling through our skulls like a damn rock in a cave. Potter’s eyes widen at his words, dropping down beside the memory of her and dropping his head forward shamefully. Draco stood still as a stone as the horrid scene continues, clenching his fists vigorously as Dumbledore’s figure finally appears from one of the green flames. Draco wished it would have felt like more of a relief but, instead he just felt a hollow thwack in his chest as Tori’s body finally fell down to the ground, gasping for air. Potter reached for her and held her behind one of the barriers in the memory, as the casting of lethal spells begin to thrash around them.
The swirling spells around them turn back into a dark grey, the dark swirls engulfing it as the memory crashes back together tightly, pulling both Draco and Harry out of the memory and landing them both back on the floor of Tori’s office.
"She... if she didn't do that, he had me." Potter admits as he tries to catch his breath, running his hands through his hair shakily.
"Who better to save your ass, than your loving little sister." Draco responded cautiously, a bit harder to admit out loud than he would of liked, but he did assume something like this with how guarded her mind was.
"Help me get back the only family I've unknowingly had, even if I'm the last person to deserve her." Potter huffed out, his eyes more focussed now as he stands to his feet.
Draco carefully re strengthens his mental walls, shaking his head at Potter. "Pity yourself later, scarface. There's no one she'd rather fight for." He reassured Potter. "How long have you known?"
"She showed me this right before your trial, I guess I took some convincing to speak up."
They both let out a quiet laugh together, before rolling their shoulders out and straightening their backs confidently.
"Let's bring her home." Draco strolled out of the office.