To the Moon and Back
“Mate, you’ll never believe who the bastard got this time.” He held the camera up to his face and took a snapshot of the wall, where Harry found the now-familiar christogram in blood.
Then Mordecai. “He’s actually helped us out with this one. It’s Rodolphus Lestrange.”
Harry blinked. Ron continued. “No doubt the department is going to be all over this.” Harry walked over to uncover the body and take a look. Ron continued. “Dawlish’s team has been after Lestrange since before you and I were even hired, Harry. As soon as the war ended and he got away, really.”
Lestrange’s face did not look very face-like, Harry thought. More like a grotesque mass of muscle and bone. This was mostly due to, as Harry soon realised, a severe disfigurement of the mouth. There were cuts all over the surrounding skin of his jaw, which looked broken or dislocated. And his tongue was- well, there was none. Just a pool of blood, which had been spilling out of one side.
Harry covered the body again before he could get the chance to vomit on it.
“Have we found his tongue?” Harry asked, trying not to sick up around the phrase.
“No,” Ron responded. “We reckon it’s the same situation as all of the others’ missing parts.”
“God’s Wrath made neat work of him, too. Look over there and you’ll find some… interesting stuff,” said Mordecai. Harry stepped around the body, steeling himself from the stench, and peered around where Mordecai pointed. Several bits of parchment were scattered across the floor. With a protection charm over his hands, so as not to ruin anything, Harry knelt down and picked them up, reading.
There’s a place I know. The one we spoke of, all that time ago. Go there. I’ll transfer what I can before the ministry takes my accounts. They won’t find you there. Stay low. They’re rounding us up. I got lucky, you might not be.
Harry furrowed his brows, wondering who would have helped Rodolphus lestrange escape. Then, the closing note gave it away.
-L.A. Malfoy
Harry’s mouth formed a thin line. Even at the end of a war, Lucius Malfoy can’t keep out of trouble. He flipped through a few other pages of parchment.
Thank you. And, not to worry. They’ll see soon. ‘Tolerance’ and ‘integration’ will only destroy the Wizarding World. I am going North tonight. Do not contact me until next I send you an owl.
-R. Lestrange
The murderer must’ve taken Lucius’ side of these letters from the manor. That’s the only way that Harry could imagine the team having missed it.
They made somewhat quick work of taking pictures and gathering all of the evidence, sending word out to Robards about the new entanglement. As they were packing up and preparing Lestrange’s body for transport, Robards sent word back to them that they were to report to the ministry promptly.
“Ron, Mordecai- d’you think you can stall for me? I want to go make sure that Teddy-”
“Go ahead. I’ve got you covered,” Ron replied easily. Harry nodded once, a silent thanks.
Harry landed back in the living room to a red-faced and crying Teddy, as well as a thoroughly flustered Hermione.
“Thank Merlin. He woke up on his own a few minutes ago. He’s been asking for you…”
Harry went past Hermione, over to Teddy, who looked as though he wasn’t breathing from the force of his cries.
“Hey, hey… Ted, what’s wrong?”
Hermione then rushed up, as well. “Look, it’s Harry. Deep breaths, Teddy. With me.”
Hermione brought her hand to his chest, and took exaggerated breaths, ensuring that Teddy paid attention. He looked between Harry and Hermione, gulping down breaths even as tears continued to fall. Harry watched as Hermione calmed him down, taking note of it in case he’d need to use the technique another day.
“Good job, Teddy,” Hermione praised as Teddy seemed to fully calm down. Teddy turned to him, his face screwing up in that telltale way-
“...Ha… Ha…”
“Yes, Ted. Harry. I’m here. It’s fine. Just had to take care of something,” he explained as Teddy scrambled towards him, getting scooped up in Harry’s arms. Hermione sighed softly.
“What happened at the scene?”
“He got Lestrange,” Harry said simply, having no qualms about divulging information to her. The image of his mangled face pushed itself to the forefront of Harry’s mind. He felt Teddy’s head lull to his shoulder, and he heard the sound of Teddy sucking his thumb. It made sense, he figured. There was still a half hour until Teddy had to wake.
“So Ron’s back home, now?”
“Not quite,” Harry explained. He told her about everything, and how the whole team was expected in the department as soon as possible, and how Ron was currently covering for Harry’s tardiness.
Hermione let out another sigh, falling silent for a moment, looking off to a corner. Then, after a moment:
“He’s getting too old to be carried, you know.”
“I don’t see a reason to stop unless I physically can’t,” Harry shrugged. “Besides, I think it comforts him.”
“Well, of course it does,” she said with a slight huff. “That’s how human affection works. It’s just… I very well can’t carry him anymore…”
“Then that’s fine for you,” Harry responded. “I still can, though.”
Hermione was silent again for a few moments before speaking again.
“Have you visited Andromeda?”
Oh, Harry’d nearly forgotten.
“No… how is she?”
“Better,” she said. They’re saying she could be out within the week, though she still isn’t fit to be caring for Teddy at the moment. They say she should be fine by Christmas, though.”
Oh.
Harry glanced at the sleeping child at his shoulder, suddenly not loving the idea of handing him back over to his grandmother, even though he likely missed her very much.
“That’s good to hear,” he said quietly. Teddy shivered, and Harry realised that his bed was probably warmer for him, so he got up to put him down. Hermione stood with him.
“You know, when Andromeda has him again, you’d still be more than welcome to visit…”
“Yeah,” he responded, bending over to put Teddy down and cover him with thick blankets. He continued to suck his thumb in his sleep.
Hermione eyed him warily. “I’m… going to go home now. I have to get ready for work.”
“O‘course,” Harry responded. “I’ll probably run into you there.”
As the floo roared back to life, Harry looked down at his sleeping godson. He was soft, and serene, and so, so small. Harry felt his heart melt a little at the sight. He knew at that moment that Teddy deserves all of the love the world could possibly offer. He deserved to have someone like Harry, or Hermione, or Ginny, or even Andromeda, caring for him and loving him.
Then he thought of the murder he’d just left, and of the fact that people like that man were the reason why Teddy had no parents, the reason why Teddy would never know his mother or father, as incredible as they would’ve been to him.
But Harry is here, isn’t he… and Harry knew at that moment, with the utmost certainty, that he would do anything for his godson.
He thought about the bedtime story he’d read him, and the father and son hare competing to show who loves each other more, and how Big Nutbrown Hare declared that he loves Little Nutbrown Hare to the moon and back.
He is continually amazed by how much he loves this little boy, and how swiftly Teddy has become such an immovable part of Harry’s world, and how sure he was that he would do anything to protect him. He could swear that with every day that passes with Teddy, it’s another day that Harry just loves him more.
Truly, to the moon and back.
—-----
When Harry arrived at the ministry with five coffees for the team and their boss to make up for his lateness, he wasn’t surprised to see that the entire team was already in Robard’s office.
What he was surprised to see, however, was Draco, dressed in a pair of black joggers that looked suspiciously like the pair that Harry lost about a month ago, and one of his sleeping shirts. He stood stiff and silent in the corner, his face impassive. Harry could see the bubble of magic that stopped sound from reaching Draco.
Then he realised, it must be because the entire team is here, which leaves nobody to watch him mere hours after the murderer struck again. He resisted the urge to go up to him, or even just stare, which he found himself wanting to do, almost as though he gravitated towards Draco.
“We should get started discussing the case. To get the simpler matters out of the way first, We’ve obtained the warrant to search George Weasley’s home for anything of suspicion… we should act on it even if nothing comes of it.” Ron didn’t do anything to indicate that he was upset other than flare his nostrils and let his mouth form a thin line.
“Next, today’s body… Dawlish, it looks as though your other case is closed. However, we’re going to need to duplicate whatever information you had about Lestrange’s whereabouts for this case, for cross referencing.” John nodded. Robards continued.
“The letters between Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange show that Malfoy helped him to hide- gave him money and the means for travel. We’re going to keep reading the letters for more information. Also,” Robards sighed, sparing a glance at Draco, who seemed to react to being looked at by him, even if minutely.
“Draco Malfoy is mentioned in the letters. Briefly, but still.”
Harry froze. What? Harry supposed he should have read the letters more thoroughly. He hadn’t seen Draco’s name. He would have known if he had.
“Apparently, he was trying to get into contact with Draco shortly after news came out that he survived an attack. Can’t help but wonder if Draco knew that Lucius was helping the bastard.”
What is Robards saying?!
At this, faces swiveled towards Harry, whose cheeks were burning as he tried to figure out what was going on.
“Draco never gets mail,” Harry responded. He felt like he needed to. The atmosphere in the room was shifting, and he wasn’t liking it one bit. “I’d know…”
“We can’t help but wonder if Draco knows more than he lets on… after all, he was a Death Eater. They three of them were acquaintances. They all worked for Voldemot together… We can’t take everything we know about his involvement in the case at face value, and we can’t ignore what we know about their previous connections.”
“You… think he set himself up to be found?” Ron tried, his tone unsure.
“Why would he go around killing his former colleagues?” asked Mordecai.
“With what time?” Spluttered John. He furrowed his brows, looking intently at Robards. “It seems… Malfoy’s shaping up to be more than just our witness, now,” she said, though he looked less like he believed it and more like he was trying to puzzle out how Robards would proceed. Harry barely had a moment to ask anything when Robards moved from his desk, rounding on Draco and removing the charm that had prevented him from listening.
“Berrycloth, help me out here. Draco Malfoy, I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with us.”
Draco’s eyes widened. He gaped. Looking frantically around the room. “Why?”
Harry surged forward instantly. “What?! You’ve got to be joking-”
“Harry, not even you can deny that seeing his name on the evidence is suspect-”
“He was his father-”
“Harry,” it was Ron, grasping him by the shoulder. “It’s no use arguing here-”
Harry could feel his pulse rushing through his neck, leading to a maddening headache. His hands curled into fists at his side. “But this is rubbish!”
“So is my brother being a suspect,” he shot back. “It’s best we figure things out from the inside, the right way…”
Harry watched slack-jawed as Draco’s wrists were bound and he was removed from the office, still looking every which way and muttering quietly, almost afraid. “What? I-I… What did I do?” Harry rounded on Robards, standing between him and Draco, who seemed to barely even register Harry’s near-explosive rage.
“This is bullshit! You know this is bullshit-”
“It’s the lead we currently have, Potter. Stand down.” Robards spoke resolutely. He pushed past Harry to continue to lead Draco from the room. Draco, who was as tense as ever, who looked as though he was barely even breathing, who barely even looked at Harry.
The door closed, leaving Ron and John alone with a seething Harry.
“You guys don’t actually agree with Robards?”
Ron stepped forward first. “Malfoy’s a git, but it’s clear that Robards is under pressure to show the press that he has some sort of lead…”
Then John “We’ll be able to figure this out, don’t worry. I’m sure it will fall through the way George’s case is about to fall through. Lord knows we won’t get anything out of searching the home of a grieving man.”
“And how long will that take?!” spat Harry. “George was taken to Mungos- he’s been under constant surveillance since then. This is absurd!”
The office fell silent, then. Harry thought of Draco being taken away, hands bound, unsure of what to do, and about to face auror questioning.
Ron turned to the door, his expression a mix between tired and upset, or something in between. He glanced towards Harry. “I almost wish you were like this when things happened with George, instead of jumping to accuse him,” he said, voice low. As Ron walked out without so much as a parting glance, something in Harry snapped.
He had to do whatever it took to get Draco out.