The first day's trial was finally over. All wizengamot juries and other wizards walked out in a row.
"Seriously, Dumbledore," Professor Marchbanks asked him earnestly as Dumbledore assisted her climb up the steps, " Are you sure you really don't need to go to St. Mungo's to recuperate for a while?"
"Thanks for your concern, Griselda, I will give it some thought." Dumbledore nodded, "But it will have to wait until we are done with this busy time, and then I will take a nice long holiday."
In the main lobby of the Ministry of Magic, a large group of journalists had been waiting there from very early and looking around with rapt attention. These people had not been invited, so they simply stood blocking at the entrance, and there were even a number of overseas journalists waiting there.
"Let's go over there." Ms. Bones said.
Felix and Dumbledore are absolutely indispensable for this press meeting, since they are the only two wizards in the current wizarding world that can stand their ground against Voldemort head on, and their presence will reassure the public. After a few steps forward, they got surrounded by journalists, the white light of the flash and the click of the shutter reverberated through the room.
All kinds of questions were thrown at them.
"Ms. Bones, how did the first day of the trial went on?"
"It went well..."
"Did the foreign observers interfere with any of the trial's verdicts? Was there any compromise needed to be made?"
"The verdict of the trial was absolutely fair."
Some people focused their attention on Dumbledore.
"Professor Dumbledore, can you share your opinion as a Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?" A journalist dressed in foreign clothing asked, "Has the You-Know-Who discarded his hold on Britain? How do you plan to confront him after the disastrous defeat of multiple Ministry of Magic - assembled Auror squads?"
As he spoke, the journalists who had been invited to the trial came out, carrying many more unanswered questions in their minds as they aimed their tongues at Felix-
"Mr. Hap, can you talk about your relationship with the Malfoys?"
"When was your friendship established?"
"The heir to the Shafiq family has returned home on a low profile, and it is said that he had some conflicts with you in his youth ..."
"Is Lucius Malfoy really an undercover agent?"
Further away from the crowd, Moody muttered, "Or it could be a ruse that they made to get Lucius off the hook. If that's the case, I'd say it's a clever trick."
Felix selectively answered a few questions, highlighting his friendship with Lucius Malfoy and sharply refuting the dark 'coercion argument' of some unscrupulous journalists - he then fixed his gaze on Rita Skeeter for a moment.
"Lucius and I have a good personal relationship, he's a big client of mine - yes, he has always been generous in that respect. Once I had noticed that something was on his mind and tried to open him up, and that's when he confided to me that he regretted very much what he had done ..."
After the interview, Dumbledore returned to school. Felix, on the other hand, stayed behind.
He and Ms. Bones went to the minister's office and Bones winked at him, "They're still in there." Felix nodded and pushed the door in.
There are two people sitting on the couch, Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy. They turned their heads nervously at the sound of movement at the door, and when they saw who it was, Lucius bolted up from the couch.
" It was a long wait, you two. There was a delay after the trial." Felix said briskly.
"Did you, did I-"
Lucius' mouth quivered for a good half-second before he finally threw out a dry half-word.
Felix nodded wordlessly and Lucius slumped back into a sitting position, clearly very disappointed. Narcissa clutched her husband's hand and said sternly to him, "We knew this day would come, it was a public trial after all. You should be glad you quit early!"
"-thanks to Mr. Hap." She looked up at Felix, who smiled at her. He raised his finger and lit the wood in the fireplace, then walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it in, and in an instant, the fire turned green.
"Amelia has linked the two fireplaces together for the time being, so - who's going in first?"
Lucius swallowed, and stepped into the fireplace, saying in a loud voice, "Malfoy Manor, the drawing room." There was a flash of green light, and he disappeared into the fireplace.
" Mrs. Malfoy, it's your turn."
Narcissa stood before the fireplace, as an emerald green light from the flame crept up her pale cheeks, while she looked deeply at Felix, "Mr. Hap, Draco is left in your hands, you will keep him safe, won't you?"
"You have my word on that ma'am." Felix stated seriously.
The green flames danced and her figure disappeared. Felix followed into the fireplace and a minute later, Ms. Bones walked into the office, which was empty. As if nothing had happened, she picked up the papers on her desk and reviewed them carefully.
.....
Malfoy Manor.
Felix emerged from the gilded fireplace, the spacious drawing room was stacked with large packages and Lucius and Narcissa stood next to each other.
"Is it all packed?"
"Still a little short of the last bit." Lucius whispered, he had been looking very depressed since he knew his undercover secret was exposed.
"Then let's get a grip, who knows where Voldemort is hiding right now, he might be lurking around the corner nearby?" Felix finished, and looked around with interest, "Mind if I walk around?"
Lucius muttered, "Of course not." So Felix walked around Malfoy Manor, everything in the place was exquisitely decorated, only it was empty and not a single soul in sight. He guessed that all the servants had been dismissed, and after about half an hour he returned to the drawing room, with a picture frame in his hand.
"Found it in one of the rooms, you may have accidentally left it behind?" Felix asked.
Lucius stared at the picture in the frame, not moving, with a look of disgust on his face. Narcissa glanced at her husband and came over to take the frame as she explained in a low voice, "It's my sister ... I, w-we we haven't had any contact with her since, since ..."
"I know." Felix said, "Voldemort is bringing her around with him."
He looked down at the large packages that stacked up like a small mountain and occupied half of the drawing room. Some gold and silver ornaments and utensils were crudely stuffed in the bags like rubbish, showing the absent mind of their owner. " There's a bit lot of stuff, but -" he stared at the emerald ring he wore on his left hand, "luckily I came prepared. It needs some relocating though, I've saved a lot of stuff before I even realized it."
He began to shake his left hand vigorously, and from the tiny ring came a low 'clatter' and lots of stuff unrelated to the ring's size dropped out, "And the new little ones, I need to make some room for them, to make sure they are comfortable... ...well, there you go!"
Felix reached out and stowed the wooden crates, packages, dragon hide purses, and velvet cloth bags on the floor, one by one, and soon the floor was emptied.
Lucius and Narcissa took one last look at their home.
"When this is all over, you can still come back." Felix reassured them.
"I am not going to be that optimistic." Lucius said moodily, " It probably won't take that long for this place to be turned into a ruin."
Ten minutes later they appeared in a vacant plot of land on the outskirts of London.
Felix handed the two of them a small slip of paper, and they read it over carefully when a small, beautiful detached house squeezed out of the air in front of them.
"You should be aware of my relationship with Mr. Nicolas Flamel, this is one of his safe houses in the United Kingdom. After his death, the original Fidelius Charm expired and the local authorities had intended to demolish it as an unauthorized building ... and then I worked my magic to keep it here."
The two of them surveyed the dusty house with critical eyes; it looked less than a fraction of the size of their original home.
"The security is less of a concern - the house is under the Fidelius Charm, and I personally act as a secret keeper. So you can feel at ease." Felix said, moving towards the door of the house, "Go in and have a look."
Lucius and Narcissa were somewhat relieved that at least Felix Hap was intending to keep his word, and they didn't have to worry about him destroying the bridge after crossing the river ... The Malfoy family's fortune through the generations - except for the part that had been placed in the Gringotts - is all in that little ring. It ought to be very tempting.
They followed Felix over the steps of the front door and into the interior of the house. The interior layout is very plain, it appears to have been unoccupied for a long time and dust is falling all around. As they walked in, they made three clear sets of footprints on the floor.
"The conditions are a bit basic, not as good as your big manor house, but there are all sorts of facilities - the house has ten rooms on three floors in total, and a small garden attached behind it. It's not bad for a temporary home. I'll also come by regularly and deliver some supplies, and if you want some change of scenery, there's a muggle shop a few hundred metres away, but you'll have to use paper money."
With a casual wave of Felix's hand, the dust in the living room instantly disappeared, and he pulled back the curtains to let the sunlight in, making it look a lot more pleasant to the eyes.
"Clatter, clatter, clatter."
The luggage spurted out of Felix's hands like a tidal wave, flooding the entire living room in the blink of an eye, with half of Lucius and Narcissa's bodies buried in it. They crawled out with difficulty and stood on a rickety, slender-legged table, staring at the mountain of luggage that nearly matched the table's height in disbelief.
"Do you need me to bring Draco here during the holidays?" Felix asked in a gentle tone.
"No, no need." Narcissa said, "Just let him stay at school." She pulled a thick, crumpled letter out of her pocket, "Mr. Hap, pass it to him for me."
Felix took it and put it away in his pocket.
" Well then, you two, I'm sure you must have plenty to talk about, so I won't be staying anymore."
He nodded at the pair and turned to walk out of the house. At that moment, there was a "banging" sound heard in the background, and he turned back to see Lucius Malfoy following him from behind.
"Is there anything else?"
"I, I have a few questions that I need to ask." Lucius said, under his breath.
"Go ahead."
Lucius stared at him, hesitating for a few moments before asking, "I can't just figure it out - in your current position, you could have convinced the Ministry of Magic to postpone the trial, or to keep it confidential - at worst, you could have kept my undercover identity hidden by some private means. You're not a man who will abide by the rules. Mr. Hap, you have the means to conceal my identity, but you didn't do anything to get it under wraps till the end."
Felix looked at him and said, "Because there was no need. At this point, there's very little you can do to make a difference." Malfoy was startled, almost expecting Felix to raise his wand and cast a killing curse in the next second, and froze for a few moments before he realized that the man in front of him is not the Dark Lord.
He calmed down and mulled it over in his mind for a moment before a thought suddenly dawned on him.
He asked tentatively, "The Dark Lord - the Dark Lord's forces have been greatly diminished, with less than a tenth of the Death Eater core members remaining, so to speak. Do you think he would suspect that there is a spy within and that I am in danger of being exposed if I stayed any longer?"
"There is that reason." Felix said slowly, " And well, we also need to be considerate of him, don't you think? Allow him to make excuses for his failures and set up another target, so he doesn't turn his suspicions on anyone else ..."
Clearly, Lucius Malfoy was that target, and he was unpleasantly aware of it himself, and for a moment he glared, but Felix didn't have much of a psychological burden; Lucius's Occlumency was barely enough in his opinion, and the time was right for him to get out of it and escape the vortex of black and white.
Lucius' grey eyes showed a mixture of shock and disbelief.
"I see! It's not me who you are trying to protect, no, I should say it's not just me ..." He hissed a cold breath, the wet early April air clotting his guts together as he whispered in a faint voice, "You are trying to protect the real spy. "
Felix blinked and made no comment in response.
Lucius Malfoy's guess was close to the truth: by now, all the stages were set and there wasn't much drama left for unrelated characters - such as the Death Eaters. Neither Felix's side nor Voldemort took them seriously anymore.
The only person left who could still be involved, or even play a significant role in it, was Severus, and so his safety became the biggest concern.
Had Snape really managed to deceive Voldemort? Felix wasn't sure, all he knew was that the last time Voldemort had gambled his full power and lost, so Voldemort would have reflected on that if he had even a fraction of a brain.
Suspicion of a spy was a threshold that couldn't be bypassed, not to mention the possibility of putting the blame on someone else to make him look like less of a loser.
When Voldemort turned his suspicions on his remaining men, Lucius was the first to escape proving that he is a spy, while Snape, whom he had nailed into the heart of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix with his own hands, would be safe. The most important thing about Snape, apart from his superb acting skills, is that he is vital to Voldemort's plan, so vital that he is irreplaceable, just like that Bellatrix.
At this point, it becomes necessary to dispel Voldemort's doubts - even if only partially - or to divert attention. Ideally: Voldemort would hate Lucius with a passion, and Severus' days would become better, and together with delivering important information about their side would decrease Voldemort's doubts about him as well as increase his trust in him.
Felix didn't have to do anything now.
He had already done enough before, those in the Wizengamot would naturally assess the situation on both sides before giving the verdict, and it would not be surprising to see a weak-minded individual to jump out and surrender, even Felix thought about arranging one himself. He just didn't expect that he would be lucky enough to run into Selwyn on the very first day of the trial.
"I almost forgot something," Felix spoke up after a long pause, " Please extend your hand to me, Lucius."
Lucius held out his right hand in bewilderment, is this some kind of farewell gesture to him? " No, the other one." Felix said. Lucius' body trembled, he knew what would be coming next! He held up his left hand shakily and used his other hand to lift the sleeve, revealing the tattoo-like pattern of the dark mark inside.
"This might hurt a bit." Felix said, grabbing his arm as he said so.
Thick black smoke rose from Lucius's arm, when Felix's palm had made contact with the Dark Mark, and the skin became so scalding hot and burning that Lucius' expression showed a look of agony, as he let out an involuntary whimper that sounded like " ho ho ".
"Bear with it Lucius, there is Voldemort's magic hidden in the Dark Mark, so we must make sure that there is no trace of it left."
A few minutes later, Felix twisted a strand of dark, evil magic in his hand and carefully gathered it up. With the addition of the haul from Malfoy Manor, his purpose this time had all been completed.
Narcissa, who was standing at the door, quietly put her wand away and came over to help her husband up, the two of them stared at the scalded skin on his left arm - the skull mark had completely disappeared.
"Thanks, thank you." Lucius said through clenched teeth.
"You're welcome. As of today, you're no longer a Death Eater." Felix said.
...
After returning to the school from the safe house, he handed the letter to Draco.
"Your parents are safe now, they've been moved to a safe house, you know what safe house means right?" Felix said without losing his gentleness, "They want you to stay at school for the holidays, read the rest by yourself, your mother has written a lot ..."
Draco took the crumpled, thick envelope.
" When the newspaper comes out tomorrow, you may have to bear some comments, and even all your friendships will be tested - are you still friends with Crabbe and Goyle? Oh, well ... I'm sure you can handle it. If there's something you can't figure out, I'll be happy to answer it, or you can find Professor Snape."
He thought for a moment, but had nothing more to add, "Well, that's it, go ahead."
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