Negotiating with Dragons Year Five

Prologue - Answers

Vanessa was feeling more than a bit stir crazy trapped in the Malfoy Manor. It had not helped that Draco was insistent upon answers.

"Draco, I gave you everything…" she sighed in exasperation. They had barely been in the Manor for a week when he wanted to know the entire story.

"No you have not. How did you even come in contact with the Dark Lord? And how did you make not one but two unbreakable vows?" Draco crossed his arms over his chest. She was not going to get out of this easily.

Where to start?

"It was the year after my mother died. So a little over a year since we met. I had been wandering out in the forest outside of our home. I heard a strange sort of hissing and realized I could understand what it was saying. It was asking me for help.

When I finally located it I could see the great snake I came to know as Hobbomock. She was injured and guarding a man who was equally injured. I saw out of the back of this man's head another face."

Draco had heard rumors about Professor Quirrel, but had not realized he had ever been in the United States.

"The face spoke to me in the same language the snake had. After we talked and he realized who I was he told me he was my great grandfather. That as a young man he had… relations… with my great-grandmother and left her with child."

"And you believed him?" Draco interrupted.

"I did, my great-grandmother married long after my grandmother was born. It was known that my grandmother was not the child of her husband. She claimed to have been married and widowed, but grandfather told me he never married her. There were pictures of him and my great-grandmother. She had travelled by steamer to England with her family. That was where they met. The face… it was older, but clearly the same man. He told me he had been injured when a curse rebounded. That there were forces in England who had sought to over throw his perfect wizard world."

"To say the least." Murmured Draco.

"I stole potions to help the injured man and Hobbomock heal and in exchange my grandfather taught me to brew potions and some spells. He had the man he was controlling write down a very specific ritual that I was to complete when the time was right."

"The one from the graveyard?" surmised Draco.

"Yes, the very same. He also sent some of his loyal followers to help, but that came later. The ritual was years in the making. Potions had to be steeped and brewed. Some took a year or more to complete."

"A heavy burden to place on a ten year old."

"Perhaps, but at the time I felt honored. Because I already knew of your family he came up with a way to involve them so that when I came to Hogwarts I would have a readymade family that he considered to be acceptable."

"Meaning pureblood."

"Not just that, they had to be loyal to him and influential. Just any pureblood family would not have done. The Weasley's are pureblood… but unacceptable in his eyes.

Later I would be contacted by the Order of the Phoenix. I believe Dumbledore sent them to me. I am not certain how they knew that my grandfather had contacted me."

"Quirrel." Draco said flatly.

"Quirrel? Who is that?"

"The man you helped, he became the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher my first year at Hogwarts. He was the one the Dark Lord was attached to."

"Oh… I never knew his name, he never spoke to me. My grandfather had caused him some injuries when they bonded. And the man… Quirrell had injured Hobbomock.

"They explained to me exactly who and what my grandfather was. I was frightened, but I was also in too deep. I had already started the ritual; it was not one I could escape without it killing me. An insider for the Order convinced the other Death Eaters that it would be in everyone's best interest for me to be made a neutral party. I spoke the vows. If I betray either side it will mean my death. I agreed only if they could secure your safety as well."

"I can't believe you even remembered me." Draco was slightly awed.

"I not only remembered you, but it was almost as if I had a compulsion to keep you safe. I can't explain it."

"I am so sorry…" Draco looked down.

"Don't be. I am not." Vanessa hugged him tightly.

"After that my entire purpose in life became to study potions and complete these two rituals. Part of my ritual for you contains some very powerful poisons and antidotes must be taken at precisely the right times. My friends did not know what I was doing but they volunteered any way. When one went wrong my friend Mari almost died. After that I was forbidden to test my poisons on any more students."

"No one thought to tell you not to test them on yourself?" Draco was amazed from what he knew of her it would be the first thing he demanded.

"To be honest, I doubt they even considered it. Some of the poisons are very painful. It takes a great deal of concentration to administer the antidote to yourself."

"Naturally." Draco said dryly.

"During this time my father became obsessed with getting a title in the family. He started cultivating a stronger bond with your father and started making inquiries to send me to Hogwarts.

It took until last year to get all of that set. I had already bonded to Draconis so special permissions had to be given for me to bring him. But finally it was all set. Professor Snape was put in charge of my out of school living arrangements and your parents were put in charge of my legal affairs."

"But beyond that you were on your own?!" Draco was appalled.

Vanessa was surprised by his reaction "I have always been left to my own devices outside of school, Draco. My father is a very busy man. If my mother had lived, or my grandmother hadn't been… no, my mother still would have been involved in charity events and business socials. Isn't it the same way in your home?"

"NO!" Draco said forcefully "My father is busy yes, but my mother is always here. I am certain your mother would have been as well."

Vanessa smiled and shook her head at him amused "Lady Malfoy is a true treasure. My grandmother always said so." Draco glowed at the praise to his mother. She was the light of his life after all.

"Then when I moved back here, I read up on the traditions and social norms here. I knew it was likely you would have been entered in to an arranged marriage already."

"And yet you were determined to go through with the ritual to save me anyway? Her loyalty was humbling.

"I told you, it felt... like I must do it. There was never any question of not following through."

That bothered Draco. It sounded to close to an imperius for his comfort.