Chapter Seven of 'Burning Day'- Enchanted Pebbles

[lomonaaeren]

Chapter Six.

Title: Burning Day (7/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing story for fun and not profit.
Pairings: Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione
Warnings: Angst, violence
Rating: R
Summary: In the lead-up to Draco’s election as Minister, Dark Lord Harry Potter broods. Only he can’t do that all the time, even with most of Britain terrified of him now. So he has to find something else to occupy his time. And being a Benevolently Snarky Dark Lord is it.
Author’s Notes: The sequel to Easy as Falling and Black Phoenix, but still prequel to “Charming When He Needs to Be.” This will be a shorter story than the others, mostly tying up the loose ends of Draco as Minister and Harry as Dark Lord, and the last story in the series.

Chapter One.

Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Seven-Enchanted Pebbles

“You need to look your best today. You know that.”

Rosenthal’s voice was so harassed that Draco closed his mouth instead of giving her the taunting reply he had been about to issue. He simply nodded and let her fuss around him, now pausing to stare intently at his robes, now studying the fall of his hair. She finally stood back and shook her head, eyes sweeping him head to foot.

“I can’t find anything wrong with your appearance,” she said. “Even though I’m sure that someone will try to find it.”

“If they do, then you can take comfort it wasn’t your fault,” said Draco, and smiled at Rosenthal. She didn’t smile back, which was unusual enough that Draco felt compelled to add, “Have you already heard something that made you uneasy?”

“No,” said Rosenthal. “Nothing specific.” She fell silent again, still frowning, and Draco waited. He knew that her political instincts were some of the most trustworthy he’d run across. He wouldn’t have employed her otherwise. “It’s simply that-that I don’t think the Ministry, or your enemies, if you want to detach them from the whole Ministry, will be content to see you as the only viable candidate for Minister.”

“Here’s the part where I reassure you that they don’t have a choice, and they know it,” said Draco, adjusting the hang of the lace at his cuffs. Rosenthal made a face at the result, but it was the only way Draco could keep his hands free to sign documents or wave gracefully. “But I can’t, because I agree with you.”

Rosenthal blinked, then seemed to regret the emotion she had let slip out, and stood up straighter. “You do?”

“Of course.” Draco gave her an indulgent smile, and moved towards the door that led out into the gardens, closest to an Apparition point from the Manor. “I know that sitting back and letting me take control, then trying to undermine me later on, would be the politically expedient thing to do, but our enemies haven’t shown themselves as all that sane.”

Rosenthal thought about that as she paced after him, then nodded abruptly as Draco opened the door. “As long as you remember that. I’ll have some extra safeguards in place, beyond the visible ones.”

Draco nodded, and slipped a hand into his pocket to clutch the smooth pebble Harry had given him yesterday. It contained a bit of the magic of Hogwarts. It couldn’t surround and protect Draco as effectively as Harry could have if he was inside the walls of the school, but it could raise a defensive shield that most spells would fall back from.

Most is not all, Draco thought, and remembered the fact that Gorenson had had access to the Department of Mysteries and the artifacts there.

But staying in his house and giving in to his paranoia wasn’t an option. Draco made sure that his strides were long and smooth as he headed for the Apparition point, and that he paused before he Apparated to make sure Rosenthal could adjust the hang of his lace to an angle they both agreed on.

*

“Where do you think you’re going? I thought you’d like to hear what Lucy and I discovered on the poisonings.” There was a pause. “And Hortensia. She was more useful than I thought she was going to be.”

Harry stepped back from the tunnel that Hogwarts had opened in the wall and focused on Hermione. “And you can’t explain those things you found to me when I come back?”

“I would be less worried if I knew where you were going.” Hermione clutched her notebook to her chest and stared at him with shadowed eyes.

Harry discovered that he could still smile when he concentrated on it. “I’m going to watch Draco’s speech where he calls for an end to the hostilities between the Ministry and the Dark Lord of Hogwarts, and begs them to accept the peace that he can secure if they elect him as Minister.”

“I thought Ron was going to watch that speech.” Hermione’s fingers tightened again. “I distinctly remember him talking about it at breakfast. He was grumbling about how boring it would be.”

Harry sighed. “I’m not going to be watching openly, of course. I would scare everyone except Draco out of their minds if I showed up as myself. I’ll be under a glamour. And you can be sure that my magic is strong enough to provide a good one.”

Hermione shook her head. “That’s not the point. You’re still venturing outside the protection of Hogwarts, and you know what happened last time.”

“I destroyed an apothecary who’d been using centaur foals as his potions ingredients?”

Hermione flushed. “I meant the time before that, when Gorenson captured you.”

Harry sighed and toyed with the pebble in his pocket that was linked to the one Draco carried, and would let him establish an even stronger defensive shield if someone attacked Draco when both stones were close enough together. “I agree that it was a stupid thing for me to do, Hermione. But that very experience proved to me that I needed to be more cautious, so now I will be. And I managed to escape on my own.”

“We’ve risked so much on your safety,” Hermione whispered, “not just me and Ron, but all the other people who’ve come to Hogwarts and allied with you, or become part of your Court. Can you sacrifice the chance to keep them safe because you want to see Malfoy speak?”

“I don’t think of it as sacrificing them for Draco.” Harry winked at her when she flushed more deeply, because he knew the deeper concerns under the surface, the concerns that she probably wouldn’t let herself express because she knew he would get angry. “I think of it as contenting me so that I don’t get snappish doing all these endless interviews. And preserving the balance between the Ministry and Hogwarts. If I’m there to stop someone if they try to assassinate Draco, that might increase people’s trust in Draco, and their conviction that they can elect him Minister and stay in the wizarding world. They don’t have to come here, even if they’re afraid, if they trust the person in charge.”

“In charge of the rest of the wizarding world?” Again Hermione gave him a complex expression. “You know that the Minister is less in charge than most people think.”

“But Draco won’t be that kind of Minister.” Harry cast a Tempus Charm. “Look, Hermione, I do have to hurry if I don’t want to miss the beginning of Draco’s speech.”

Hermione shook her head and said something else, but Harry had vanished into the tunnel. He knew her concerns, and he shared them, to a certain extent. He would never be as casual about leaving Hogwarts as he had been before Gorenson captured him.

But a Dark Lord who was caged up in his castle all the time was no good at all. He had to at least prove that he would come out to defend his people, the way he had when he attacked Darkest Signs.

The sooner he established that new personality he had been thinking of the other day after he interviewed Hortensia, the more he could balance his power and his indifference to a lot of affairs in the wizarding world that didn’t touch on his Court, the happier he would be.

He created the glamour for himself that he would use to blend into the crowd on the way down to the edge of the wards, and Apparated the moment he was beyond them. His body rang with soft excitement.

And the better a lover I’ll be, too.

*

Draco took his hand out of the robe pocket and off the pebble that Harry had enchanted for him when he saw how sternly Rosenthal’s eyes were fastened on him. He had promised to be good, hadn’t he? And that meant not looking like he was dreamily staring into the air and ignoring the claims of the public on him.

He looked out over the vast crowd that had assembled around the edge of Diagon Alley, carefully out of the way of the shops’ doorways, but crowding into the front doors of restaurants that were happy to have the increased business. A lot of people had ice cream cones or sandwiches or glasses of pumpkin juice in their hands.

And for the first time since he had started making these speeches, Draco thought the majority weren’t reporters or Ministry employers. They were ordinary witches and wizards who wanted to see what he was all about, and hear him speak. The people who would elect him, maybe, if they decided to vote.

Draco looked from face to face, slowly. He couldn’t possibly look everyone there in the eye, but he was going to make a spirited attempt.

Some people waved at him, or smiled. Other people scowled, but Draco was going to do his best to ignore those. He would always have some detractors. Getting rid of them was as impossible as expecting all of Harry’s enemies to fall down dead, just because it would be convenient.

Besides, if he played his cards right, then he could use his enemies to make himself look good.

“You’re here today to see me speak,” he said. He had just caught sight of Weasley’s red hair and rolling eyes, and he addressed himself specifically to Weasley for a moment. “Not all of you are here for the same reason, but that doesn’t matter. You can still listen to me. And if you make a response that shows you’ve listened, I might respect it, even if it opposes me.”

Weasley gave him a more considering look after that. Draco smiled. He had always done better with small audiences, one reason that his father had thought Draco’s decision to run for Minister was crazy. But he could make one person into a substitute for the larger audience, and he thought he would do that with Weasley right now. He might as well perform some service other than just representing the Dark Lord of Hogwarts at Draco’s speech.

“I want you to know that I understand your uneasiness about the Ministry. One day, you had what looked like a normal election, though perhaps with some more drama than usual. And then the incumbent Minister announced his retirement, the Ministry appointed a ‘council’ to work in his place, and there were Unspeakables running around as though they owned everything.”

A few other people were relaxing, responding to his informal tone. Weasley’s expression hadn’t really changed.

“But I can promise that I’ll bring an end to that,” said Draco. “I can make tomorrow look like today. And that’s something no other Minister can promise you.”

That caused a stir in the crowd that made Rosenthal tense, but Draco stayed calm without much effort. He didn’t think that kind of stir would precede a serious attempt to kill him.

“Why?” demanded a woman who probably was a reporter, just from the way she held her hands as if missing parchment and a quill, although she didn’t wear the official robes or insignia that would have marked her as affiliated with one of the papers. “Why do you think that you have this strength, when you’ve never showed it so far?” She folded her arms and looked around, as though she was trying to gather support, or maybe just approval.

“Because I’m flexible,” said Draco. That got some doubtful looks at his arms and ankles, which made him want to laugh. But he maintained his calm look and his silence, and in a few seconds, they went back to paying attention to his face. “I mean that I can work with people who might make enemies of other Ministerial candidates, or this council. I can even work with the Unspeakables. I don’t hold them responsible for what Gorenson did. I’d rather find ways to not tread on their territory, and learn how we can have a productive relationship in the future Ministry.”

There. That ought to help any spies for the Unspeakables in the crowd-and Draco was sure there were some-to make up their minds.

“Anyone could say that,” the reporter challenged him. “You still haven’t told us who you can work with that no one else could.”

Draco smiled. He really couldn’t have asked for a better opening. “The Dark Lord.”

That made a few people near the edges of the crowd start and scream, but really, they would have anyway. Most of the more reasonable ones were considering it, although with grimaces that said they didn’t like being indebted to Harry for anything, not even for leaving them alone. Weasley frowned.

“Why?” the reporter whispered. “What do you have on him?”

Draco spread his hands. “Not on him. Just the realization that he’s powerful and we need to learn to live with him, because challenging his power is suicidal. That’s a realization the Ministry has never yet come to.”

“We have to protect our ideals and ways of life,” said a woman with blond hair who Draco thought was probably a scion of a family who donated to Hogwarts, although he couldn’t remember which one. “He’s threatening to destroy them.”

“Which ideal?” Draco asked, curious. “Which way of life? He certainly protected our traditions by keeping Hogwarts open, and the Ministry was proposing to shut it down. Did you know they didn’t have any date for when it would be open again? They just said it would happen some time in the future.” He shook his head sadly. “That’s sacrificing tradition for novelty, right there.”

The blond woman frowned some more. Weasley, of all people, was the one who spoke up. “I think she means the ideal of not living under a Dark Lord. That’s one that I’d find worth preserving.”

Draco thought he kept his face neutral enough for most people not to notice his impulse to glare at Weasley, but Weasley himself grinned. What is he playing at? Draco wondered.

Then he remembered that Harry had described Weasley as a great chess player, and wanted to groan. It was political chess, wasn’t it? It was this stupid impulse to put out a statement and see how Draco would respond to it.

If he hadn’t known Weasley was loyal to Harry, down to the bone, Draco might also have thought it was an attempt to trip Draco up and make him look stupid. But Weasley wouldn’t do that. He must think he was helping. In his way.

“No one has to live under him,” said Draco. “I will always maintain the independence of the rest of the wizarding world and the Ministry from him. If he tried to take over the office of the Minister or insisted on being compensated for the Unspeakables’ attacking him more than he has been, I would deny him. But I don’t think he wants that. I think he wants to be left alone, and for the people who have sworn to him to be left alone.”

He gave Weasley a glance this time that he hoped would inform Weasley that he was taking advantage of that protection, standing there in Diagon Alley without being attacked. Weasley’s grin only widened.

“So you’re talking about coexistence,” said the reporter who had accosted him before.

Draco focused back on her. “That would be a good word for it.”

“What if we don’t want to coexist with a Dark Lord?” The reporter stood up tall and straight, looking around for an army of followers that still seemed pretty nonexistent as far as Draco was concerned. “That was an ideal that people during the last war fought and died for!”

“And they fought to disprove blood purity, and to keep a Dark Lord from taking over the wizarding world,” Draco pointed out. He could feel his blood singing softly through his veins. This was the kind of political debate he liked, with someone who would lay their points out simply and thoroughly and let Draco demolish them in the same way. “This Dark Lord doesn’t want to take over our world. We can let him have Hogwarts and the people who want to live there.”

“What about the children who want to attend the school but don’t want to follow his lead?” The reporter struck a martyred pose. “Don’t they deserve an education, too?”

Draco shrugged. “As far as I know, Dark Lord Potter considers the students under his protection, but he doesn’t demand that they believe the same things as he does. He only demands that they refrain from attacking magical creatures and other members of his Court, the way he does of adult wizards in the world outside Hogwarts.”

“But what if they want to attack magical creatures?”

“Then, yes, I would assume Lord Potter would say they should find an education elsewhere.”

“But for some wizards, those are among our cherished ideals!”

Draco was about to answer when he felt the pebble in his pocket growing steadily warmer, a sudden blazing star against his leg. He started to put a hand down towards it, wondering. Had Harry also enchanted it so that it would warn Draco when he was going too far in his claims? Draco couldn’t speak for Harry, after all, and perhaps the pebble was warning him against trying.

But instead, a shield appeared around him, composed of softly glowing flames. The same thing happened with Rosenthal, and Weasley, and a number of other people in the crowd who Draco knew had sworn to Harry.

Then Harry stepped out of nowhere to Draco’s side, his face utterly impersonal and his robes glittering with finery that Draco had never seen, including emeralds in the cuffs at his wrists.

“If you want to say that killing magical creatures is within your cherished traditions,” said Harry, his voice distant and empty, “then you may. If you do it in my Court or against any of the creatures that have allied with me, then you will burn the way Darkest Signs did.” He gave them a wide smile. “Want a look?”

More fire curled away from him, although Draco stood close enough to realize that it was an illusion; there wasn’t even any heat. But it was impressive in the way it rose up like waves, and the gold and blue colors at its heart, and it made people back away from him, crying out.

Harry nodded as though he had fulfilled some contract with himself, eyes glinting. “Have a nice day.”

Then Harry vanished, and the shields of fire vanished, and Draco straightened up and his collar around his throat, clearing it gently.

“So. The Dark Lord doesn’t care what you talk about or even what you believe as long as you don’t attack his people. I believe that was what I was saying. And I find it a reasonable demand, and I think that I will be able to compel the Ministry to see it as a reasonable price for coexisting with the Dark Lord of Hogwarts. Does anyone have any more questions?”

There was a long pause. Then someone asked, “Is it true that you would restructure the Department of Mysteries to be less secretive? Someone was saying that you w-would, but I couldn’t figure out the purpose of it.”

Draco smiled, and answered. He wondered if that person was one of Rosenthal’s plants in the crowd; not even Draco knew who all of them were. At any rate, it reminded people that there were more issues in this election than who the Dark Lord of Hogwarts favored, or whether one could coexist with him.

Draco saw the speculative glances thrown at him. Most people had noticed the shield of fire. On the other hand, it had appeared on so many people there that one couldn’t say that Draco had been singled out as Harry’s only possible ally.

And Draco saw, too, the secretive smile on the face of a hunched-over man with brown beard and eyes near the edge of the crowd.

You chose to time your intervention, he thought, but he couldn’t muster any resentment at the thought. If that was Harry displaying his political instincts, newly-acquired or otherwise, it was about time.

Chapter Eight.

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