The Lewis House 106 страница

Ginny flinched.

"If all this is true, then Malfoy's been using that thing on all of us -" Ron pointed at the ring " - because he could have done something useful with it months ago!"

"Well, he's willing to do it now," Ginny began.

"In exchange for his freedom? Oh, I don't think so." Ron got out of his chair. He could no longer bear to sit still - he wanted to pace. He wanted to punch. "I think we ought to force him to use it. Put him under Imperius, make him do what we need him to do and then throw him straight back in prison where he belongs." Ron saw something like horror on Bill's face, but he didn't care. He hated Malfoy, and there were reasons for his hatred. "Why should I care about treating him justly? Why, after the way he's treated everyone else in the world? Why should he be allowed to force us into a position where we have to make this choice? We're giving him all the power, and I won't do it! I won't do it!"

Ron stood, panting and furious, not sure where to look. Everyone was watching him in varying degrees of pity and shock, and he couldn't handle any of it.

"Do you even know what his dad was doing?" Ron asked jerkily, in the silence. "Putting maidenhair root into Muggle cosmetics. Hundreds of thousands of lipsticks and powders are full of it. Do you know what maidenhair root does?"

Rose Brown's eyes widened. Her mouth opened. "It… causes infertility," she said faintly.

"In Muggles. To weed down the numbers." Ron felt the familiar wrench in his stomach that always accompanied such sick ideas. "The company that does it will belong to Malfoy if we let him out. And so will a dozen others that do similar things."

Even Moody looked disgusted, though there was no surprise on his face. He cracked the weathered knuckles of one hand against the leathery palm of the other, as if preparing to hit someone hard.

"I know you all think I'm vindictive." Ron stared down at Ginny. "I know you think I'm mad -"

"No, Ron," Ginny cut in. "I don't."

Ron ignored her. "I know you're thinking, well, Malfoy's just one person, how bad can it really be if we -"

"Voldemort was just one person." Ginny's voice was nearly inaudible. "And to tell the truth, Malfoy's just as…"

They all looked at her.

"I used to think that Malfoy could never become what Tom Riddle became," Ginny said, her voice shaking. "But after today, I don't know. I just don't know. I think he's capable of real brutality. Part of me thinks it would be very wrong to let him out. Part of me thinks the idea of putting him under Imperius is a good one."

Ron was so surprised to hear her on his side that he couldn't think of a word to say.

"But I don't think I could do it," she said. "I don't want to be like Riddle, or Malfoy, or any of them. I just can't make myself want him in prison that badly. I won't give up that piece of myself, and Ron, you shouldn't either. Not for Malfoy. Not you."

Ron was struck silent.

"I hate him too," Ginny said. "If you knew half of what he said to me today…" She stopped. "But I don't want to see you sinking to his level. He doesn't deserve justice, but you deserve your self-respect, and you know you wouldn't have it anymore if you did something like that. Imagine what Dumbledore would say - imagine what Hermione would think."

Ron's heart jumped. Hermione. He'd hardly thought about her for an hour. It was the longest he'd gone without her face in his mind for years. It occurred to him with sudden force just how wrapped up he'd been in Malfoy - how many hours he'd spent on a single case when there were others waiting for him. How much of his energy had gone into retaliation when he had a life outside it - when he had someone amazing who wanted to marry him. He felt suddenly rather cold.

"I don't mean to lecture, either," Ginny said. "I'm really confused about this because - because there's still a catch."

Arthur was already looking at her. "What catch?" he asked gently.

"Malfoy says the ring is just the source of power," Ginny replied. She was paler than ever and her freckles stood out darkly against her skin. "And that he'll have to control it while we all use what it unleashes in order to destroy the Dementors. So we'd… have to use Voldemort's magic. We'd have to channel it ourselves."

"Channel it?" Bill breathed. "Is he joking?"

"No." Ginny gave a weak laugh. "I'm sure he isn't. He asked for us specifically. Us and Harry and Hermione. He… he thinks it's funny to see us forced to use Dark magic."

Moody snorted loudly. "So he's one of the truly petty bastards, is he?" he muttered. "Twisted as tree roots. Seen it before. Worst of the lot, men like that. Taking their personal problems out on the world like little children - that's where we get our Grindelwalds and Voldemorts - you mark my words. If we let him out, we'll have another Dark Lord before my life's over."

"That's conjecture," Rose said, but she sounded shaken. "The fact is that if we don't let him out, we'll be saddled with the Dementors forever. And I don't want that for this Ministry." She looked down at her clipboard. "Or for those riders," she added quietly.

"So which is it, then?" Ron asked, and suddenly he wasn't sure of the answer. "Which is worse? Malfoy or the Dementors?" He met Bill's eyes. Ginny's. His father's.

"I want to kill them."

Ron nearly came out of his skin. He whirled towards the sound of the voice - the rasping, maddened voice that he had not heard since the end of his third year. In the Shrieking Shack.

Sirius's was gripping the arms of his chair so tightly that his fingers seemed to Ron to be nothing but bone. Like skeleton hands. He was pale as death and his eyes were alight with something not-quite human.

"Let me kill them, Arthur."

That voice again. Ron was seriously unnerved - he took a step away from Sirius's chair and glanced uncomfortably at Ginny. But she wasn’t watching him; her eyes were on Sirius and she looked as afraid as Ron felt.

"Sirius," Arthur began, very gently.

"Let Malfoy free." Sirius was breathing quickly and color was now rising in his face. He looked feverish. "Let him use that ring - I'll channel Dark magic, I don't care, I've had worse, and I want to do it."

Moody shifted against the wall where he stood, and crossed his arms. "You're making this personal, Black," he said.

Sirius's head swung towards Moody and Ron couldn't see his face. But he knew it must have been terrifying, because even Moody looked somewhat cowed.

"Twelve years," was all Sirius managed. And then he slumped back in his chair like someone who had just been released from a trance. He put a hand to his eyes and seemed to be trying to regulate his breathing. "If they can be destroyed," he said, "then there is no question here. If those creatures can be destroyed, then we must take the opportunity. Dark Lords are human - they come and go. If Malfoy's going to stay on his father's path, we'll eventually catch up with him again. I've no doubt about that. But if we lose this chance…" He uncovered his eyes and pinned them on Arthur. "If we lose this chance, I'll lose my mind," he said simply. "That's not an exaggeration. Let Malfoy go, Arthur - this is worth it."

It was the first exception Sirius had made in all the months they'd worked together, and Ron wasn't sure how he felt. He didn't want Malfoy to get out of prison, but…

Ron grimaced. He didn't want to own it, even to himself. But Sirius had a point.

"Wait, Sirius," Rose said. Her voice was still shaking, but she looked quite determined; she gave her clipboard a brisk tap with her quill. "There are still several things to work out before we take this risk."

"For example?"

Rose hesitated, then met Sirius's stare with one of her own. Perhaps it wasn't quite as fierce, but she managed to keep it up, and Ron was impressed. "For example," she said, her tone becoming more businesslike, "why is it that only Malfoy can do this magic? Why are we so dependent on him? Do you know, Ginny?"

"I…" Ginny shrugged. "I suppose it's just because he's the one who knows the spells that can focus the curse. I mean, it's not a talent - this isn't some gift he has." She laughed, and the sound was unusually harsh. "He's just a bully with a toy."

"And no one else knows the same spells?" Rose went on. "No one else learned those curses? I find it hard to believe that Voldemort would only give that information to Lucius Malfoy."

"I don't," Moody said. "In my experience that's precisely how Voldemort operated. No two Death Eaters ever had the same information, and the higher up they were, the more isolated the information was. That way, if one of them was caught, the rest of his secrets weren't compromised. The only Dark spell they all seemed to know was the one that sent up the Dark Mark. Every one of them could do that."

"That and the Unforgivables," Ron muttered. He didn't meet Ginny's glance.

"Then can't we somehow discover the necessary words?" Rose asked. "Between curse breakers and Thinkers and spell crafters, there has to be someone that can reveal to us how this ring is used."

"It doesn't work that way," Bill sighed. "I wish it did. We could guess the incantation, of course - but how many people would it kill, if we were wrong? You saw the curse that's sitting in that ring - we have absolutely no room for error."

"We could use Veritaserum," Rose interrupted. "Get the spell out of him that way."

"We could. But words alone aren't enough to make magic," said Arthur. "We'd need him to teach it to us, and Veritaserum isn't that powerful."

"Well, damn it!" Rose said, slapping her quill against her clipboard angrily.

Everyone stared at her.

"This is ridiculous!" she said, not seeming to notice that she'd violated her usual self-restraint. "Every one of us in this room is more powerful than Draco Malfoy, there has to be a way for us to do this without him!" She looked at Arthur. "What about Harry?"

Ginny drew back in her chair. "What about Harry?"

"He's resisted magic worse than this, he might be able to -"

"NO," said Ron, Ginny, Sirius and Arthur together.

"Leave Harry out of it," Ginny continued hotly. "In this he's just a dragon rider like the rest of them. Like Mick. We won't make this his burden - forget it. He's done enough."

"Calm down, Ginny." Their father's voice was very quiet. "It's all right. That's not about to happen."

Ginny grew very pink, as if she'd just realized where she was. But she closed her mouth and nodded.

"I think it's clear," Sirius said, biting off every word, "that we need Malfoy for this. That does not mean he is the one in control." He turned and, to Ron's immense disquiet, looked right up at him. "What it means is that we will have to use him. And I am not opposed to using him." He gave a smile so feral that Ron could have sworn he saw fangs. "Are you?"

Put in that light, Ron couldn't say that he was.

"But there's more to think about," Rose cut in. "That ring didn't get cursed by itself - who made it, Ginny? Was it Lucius?"

Ginny let out a breath. "Malfoy didn't really say…" She frowned. "He asked me if… no, wait. I asked him if the power in it was the Imperius Curse, and then he said something about how the Dark Lord used magic that my kind couldn't name or understand."

Rose lifted her eyebrows. "Voldemort made it?" she said dubiously. "That doesn't make sense. There's an M etched on it."

"But if it was specifically for Malfoy," Ginny began, "then he might have -"

"Done a little engraving?" Moody snorted. "No, Rose is on to something. Voldemort didn't make that ring."

Ron shot out of his chair, excitement coursing through him. "Or else he did, and whoever engraved it was skilled with dangerous objects - like Malfoy's jeweler - his files are in our office, there are sketches -" Ron couldn't speak in rational sentences. He went to the door, drew his wand and pointed it down the corridor. "Accio Dangerous Objects File!" he shouted, so loudly that Lawrence jumped and gave him a dirty look. "Acco Rings File!" he added, for good measure.

There were a few minutes of very painful anticipation before the files came zooming down the corridor, narrowly missing people as they flew. Ron caught them in midair and hurried back into his father's office. He handed the Rings file to Sirius.

"Look for a sketch of that ring," he said, and both of them began hurriedly to flip through pages. Ron hardly noticed the sketch of the gold chain that served as a precaution against burglars, hexed to strangle whoever stole it. He flipped right past the earrings that recorded conversations, and he barely saw the twin bracelets that doubled as handcuffs.

"Got it," Sirius said, brandishing an oversized rectangle of parchment in the air. Ron pulled his chair closer, and everyone else gathered around them and stared down at it. There was a heavy pause in which they all studied the sketch and read the notes beside it. As he read, Ron felt as though his lungs were constricting.

Ginny was the first to speak. "That's… why I… can't touch it… " she managed. She was holding her stomach.

Ron felt sick. Beside the sketch of the ring's face, onto which Thinstone had drawn the painstakingly elaborate M, there was a far more extensive set of notes.

Curse object

Do not engrave more deeply than 1/4 cm or mortal peril

Basilisk venom at core (note - venom unusual core, uncontainable element, likely to have bled into metal, CAUTION)

Tempering/Cursing process unknown

Purified in boiling Basilisk's blood

DO NOT USE BARE HANDS

Ginny returned to her chair looking white and shaken; their father followed, sitting beside her and putting his hand on her arm.

"Venom at the core," Rose murmured. "So it's… like a wand."

"But with limited power." Bill squinted at the picture for a moment, then sighed, pulled his glasses out of his pocket and fitted them to his face. "And with other curses placed on it, apparently - probably to stop people who aren't supposed to be using it -"

"Like us," said Rose.

"From trying to do so," Bill finished. "Anyway, venom's not just an uncontainable core. It's an illegal and unstable one."

"You know…" Rose said slowly, "it's a morbid thought. But if Lucius Malfoy was wearing this ring when he died, then I suppose his son just… took it off his body."

There was a collective shudder.

"I know it's… practical not to bury valuables …" Rose trailed off.

"Malfoy should stay in prison," Ron said flatly. He felt Sirius's eyes bore into him, but he couldn't help the way he felt. It seemed clear that they were going to let Malfoy off - they were going to let him walk right out of Culparrat even though they now had real evidence on him - and Ron wasn't sure he'd ever really reconcile himself to it.

"If we're honestly considering setting Malfoy free, then it can't be absolute freedom," Rose said. She looked nauseated.

"He said it would have to be," Ginny said dully.

"No." Rose laughed. "He'll have to reconsider. He has to know that bargains work both ways. There will be a probation period, and during it I want the M.L.E.S. to monitor his property. I want wards against Dark magic placed around his manor. I want Gringotts to keep authorities apprised of every financial transaction Malfoy makes. I want those companies of his dismantled, and I want him fined. Heavily fined." She humphed. "He'll have to make up for the money we've wasted all year."

"He'll never do all that -" Ginny began.

"Oh won't he." Rose smiled. "A Slytherin maxim for you, Ginny - we know a deal when we see one. And this is more than a deal. Malfoy should never get out of prison, and if he's willing to do something to help us then he bloody well knows it. A few minor stipulations placed on his freedom won't stop him wanting it." She looked coolly satisfied. "Trust me."

For the first time in his life, Ron thought he saw the value of having a Slytherin around. "How long can we make the probation period?" he asked.

"Standard practice is a year, isn't it?" Rose answered.

"Ten years then," Ron said. "Minimum."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and then, one by one, they nodded.

"But we still…" Ginny said after a moment. "We still have to be the ones who do it. Malfoy wants us to participate in that spell. Me and Ron and Harry and Hermione - he said several capable wizards would be needed, so I expect we're not enough. But he does want us."

Silence followed this reminder, and Ron's heart beat hard and fast. Harry would be all right, and Ginny wasn't bad in a scrimmage - but Hermione wasn't a very good flyer.

"I'll participate," said Arthur, looking around the room at all of them.

"No, Dad -" Bill started.

"If any of my children plan to be up there, then I will be there with them."

Ron felt a surge of terrible fear. His dad was a good flyer, but… he was older. And he wasn't in practice.

"I suppose Mick will volunteer," Rose said quietly. She looked unhappy about it.

"And me," said Bill. "And Charlie, I'm sure."

Moody heaved a rough sort of sigh. "Can't balance too well on a broom," he said, thumping his wooden leg on the office floor. "Don't suppose someone would strap me onto one?"

Ron snickered involuntarily and many eyes turned on him, including one that rolled in a most abnormal manner. He pressed his mouth shut and looked down at the tops of his shoes, trying to remember that the situation was very serious. But it was hard going when, in his head, he was entertaining the absurd image of his dad binding Mad-Eye Moody to a broom and sending him wobbling out over the sea.

"Well, that's several of us," Ginny said, and Ron was grateful that everyone's eyes turned on her instead. "And we're all capable. That's all Malfoy said he needed. So then… " She looked at their dad. "Is that it? Is this what we're going to do?"

Arthur considered her for a moment, his eyes very grave. And then he folded his hands on his desk and gazed at them for a long time. Finally, he opened his mouth. "Yes," he said. "I believe…" He seemed to be measuring his words very carefully. "I believe it's the best choice, not only for the Ministry and for the people we love who are being affected, but for the wizarding world. Muggles may not be able to see Dementors or suffer them as we do - and I'm glad for them. But we can." He unfolded his hands and used one to rub his temples. "And I'm worried for the people in Stornoway - I'm worried about every witch and wizard in Britain. If the Dementors' hunger continues to grow, they may yet find a way around the current system. If they do, then our whole world is at risk."

Ron remembered how Harry had looked at the beginning of last summer, when they had heard about that poor witch who had lost her soul. Her little boy had lost his mother - her husband had lost his wife. Ron put himself in the man's shoes and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that to destroy the Dementors was the most important thing. Even if it meant giving up on something else that, to Ron, felt almost equally important.

"I admit I have reservations about offering Draco Malfoy a bargaining opportunity that we haven't offered to anyone else, but this is… a very unusual situation." Arthur looked around at each of them and his eyes were pale and tired, but resolute. "I'm afraid that it may have a detrimental impact on the rest of the trials. But I hope that it can be kept quietly among ourselves."

Ginny gave their father a funny look.

He continued. "Though I doubt it. I won't lay this burden on the shoulders of just a few people, for one thing. Other wizards and witches will have to be involved..." He absently scratched his head. "But until the necessary papers are signed, we will continue as we are. And as soon as he has made the agreement, we will… arrange ourselves as he instructs." Arthur's lips twisted in something like a smile. "I'm sure he'll enjoy that," he said very faintly.

Ginny looked pensively at the ring on the desk. "Then… who should tell Malfoy what he's going to have to agree to?" she asked.

No one answered. Ron knew that he had no desire to see Malfoy and to tell him that he, for all intents and purposes, had won what he wanted. He had found a way, as usual, to bully himself out of a situation. Ron knew he wouldn't be able to pass along the information calmly. Sirius might have been able to, but Sirius was suspended - not that that seemed to matter anymore.

"I'll tell him," Rose said suddenly. She put her clipboard on Arthur's desk and smoothed a hand over her hair. "I'll go whenever you're willing to take me," she said to Moody. "I'd like to negotiate with him while this is all fresh in my mind, and once he's agreed to a few limitations, we can draw up a contract."

Ginny smiled slightly. "You know," she said to Rose, "it's funny. He said you'd be the one who'd appreciate the bargain. He said to give you his regards, actually."

"Did he. How interesting." Rose gave a catlike smile. "What a lot of House faith he has."

"Well!" Moody clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "This should be entertaining. Come along, Privy Brown. We can wake him now, if you like - it's not as if he's got a busy schedule." He snorted and turned towards the Minister's desk. "Arthur," he said, with a respectful nod of his head, and then he thunked his way out of the office with Rose right behind him.

"You forgot this," Arthur called after her, holding up her clipboard.

Rose glanced over her shoulder and smirked. "Thanks, Arthur. But I only need that thing when I'm trying to be fair."

The door closed behind them with a snap.

"She's very young," said Arthur, his eyes on the door. "Very young. But I have faith that she will make an excellent Minister, if she chooses the right people to surround her."

No one seemed to know what to say. Ron wanted to argue - to say that she wouldn't be Minister. But he wasn't sure that he was right.

"Are you all right, Sirius?"

Sirius looked up at Arthur with haunted eyes. "I will be," he said hoarsely. "Soon."

Arthur nodded. "Ginny? Is there anything more you would like me to know about what went on at Culparrat?"

Ginny sighed a little, and shook her head. "Nothing important," she said. "Just a lot of insults."

Ron thought that he probably could have recited them.

"Bill? Where do you suggest we put this ring?"

Bill shrugged. "It seems to be harmless enough unless it's being used directly - or unless it's touching Ginny. Just keep it in a safe."

"Gringotts, then," said Arthur, sweeping the ring into his hand and pocketing it. "Let's go now." He rose, and his gaze fell on Ron.

Ron looked up. He met his father's eyes and wasn't sure what to make of the look in them.

"I know how difficult this is for you," Arthur said, searching his face. "I remember when they let Lucius Malfoy off. I'd just been promoted to my old position at the time, and I had started going on the raids, and I knew what he was, and I wanted…"

Ron waited.

"I wanted to hunt him down and finish him off." Arthur ran a hand through what was left of his hair. "I remember it like it was yesterday. The things he'd said. The things he'd done. It was beyond me, how anyone could bargain with a man like that, and in that case, I still believe that they were wrong." His eyes were fierce. Despairing. "I used to rage to your mother every night, behind closed doors so that Bill and Charlie wouldn't know how helpless I felt. I didn't want them to know that their father couldn't make things right."

Bill shifted his feet, shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor.

Ron knew why. It was strange to hear all this. He felt as if a door had been opened to him and he had unexpectedly walked into a world where his father was just a regular person. Just a man with frustrations of his own - not a father at all. And it wasn't that Ron hadn't seen those frustrations before, but it was very different to hear them said like this.

"And there you and Ginny were, just babies. Your mother always had one or both of you crawling on her whenever I ranted." Some of the old anger went out of Arthur's face as he remembered it. "I'd be saying, Molly, I hate that man. I know what you must think of me, but I honestly wish him dead. They've given him back everything and he deserves nothing."

He could have been speaking for Ron.

"And your mother would nod and tell me I wasn't horrible at all, and then she'd hold the two of you up to me one by one and say, that's enough of Lucius Malfoy for now, Arthur. Your children have missed you all day, give them a kiss."

Ron saw Ginny look down. He heard her sniffle. And suddenly, he had to look down too.

"The point I'm trying to make," Arthur said, coming around his desk and putting a hand on Ron's shoulder, "is that you have every right to be as angry and frustrated as you are. He's a sick young man who really ought to be punished - severely. But Ron, there are more important things in life to concentrate on, and he has none of them. While you have all of them. Just as I did."

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04