Testing

+++++++++++

"It doesn't seem like I'm doing enough."

Harry spoke into his teacup but was clearly heard by the man across the desk. Albus Dumbledore, his confessor and most reliable friend, was nearly the only person still living that had not abandoned the savior.

"You have done more than we should have ever asked of you."

"Do you ever have regrets, Albus?"

The inscrutable older wizard smiled benignly.

"I do not regret that children will now grow up without war."

Harry smiled softly, well accustomed to the wizard's penchant for evasion.

"The Weasleys want me to lie if I find any evidence of Imperious."

"There is much grief in their family."

"Do you think they're right?"

Harry looked up, emotions running across his face in reflection of an internal conflict.

"No. If it is not found, he will stand trial for his crimes. If it is…"

As the Headmaster's voice trailed off, he shrugged.

"I think they're worried it's some sick family tradition."

"It disturbed many that young Draco had been treated so."

"But that doesn't make it some rite of passage."

"The Malfoy family has always done what it must."

Harry frowned.

"You think he's claiming the truth?"

"I am not yet senile, dear boy. I know only that Cassius Malfoy was capable of great evil."

"Cassius?"

"Draco's grandfather. A young man I once taught, a year younger than Tom Riddle."

"I forget occasionally how old you are."

"There has always been a Malfoy at Hogwarts, since the days of the founders."

"And now, with luck, the family will die out."

Dumbledore shook his head.

"It will be a loss to the wizarding world. They are a powerful family and their focus has been perverted to the dark for too long."

Harry snorted.

"Too damn bad that Lucius killed his son. Draco could have redeemed them."

A soft chime echoed in the office.

"Ah, the guests have arrived."

"You mean the prisoner's been Portkeyed in."

Albus smiled, Harry's sarcasm not disturbing him.

"Would you like company, dear boy?"

Harry stood, placing his teacup on the desk.

"No, thank you. I just want to get to work."

+++++++++++

Harry strode into the infirmary. He immediately caught Poppy Pomfrey's dark glares as she bustled about on the opposite side of the room from the Aurors and Lucius Malfoy. His path changed as he approached the mediwitch. As she made a bed by hand, he laid a light hand on her shoulder.

"I'll have him out of here as soon as I can."

There was an atypical downward twitch to her mouth.

"He's put so many people in here… I took an oath to treat all who need it, but I've never liked it."

"I'm just testing, not torturing him, Poppy."

The older woman turned, catching him in a quick but fierce hug before he could avoid it.

"It's you, Harry. Someone will end up in my care before this is over."

Shaking his head, he let her get back to work and approached the Auror.

"Just one of you?"

The Auror didn't smile or move away from the man he was watching closely.

"He's in control. We dosed him with Calming Potions."

The friendliness burned out of Harry's gaze.

"I can't test him if he's drugged."

The man just shrugged, not impressed with the Champion of the Light.

"Your problem, not mine."

Harry snarled as he took the offered papers, signing to accept custody of Malfoy and filling in the date and time for the court to witness the testing. Harry handed them back and smirked as the Auror scowled.

"This is three days from now!"

Harry just shrugged.

"You shouldn't have drugged him. I guess it is your problem now."

As the Auror tapped his Portkey and disappeared, the green-eyed wizard turned to Lucius Malfoy. This was the man who, with Voldemort gone, Harry hated most in the world. It was galling that the blond would still have several inches height on the younger man, even if both of them had been barefoot. Harry's displeasure showed clearly in his features.

"Feel free to resist, Malfoy."

The aristocrat simply raised an eyebrow.

"Such is the descent of Gryffindor honor?"

As Harry continued to scowl, he summoned an appropriate set of infirmary pajamas.

"You will change and then I will be locking you in a private room. Your only contact will be a house-elf designated by me."

Lucius sneered at the clothing as it was passed to him.

"Will you not offer even the pretense of privacy?"

Harry smirked.

"You get what you deserve, Malfoy. I'm responsible for your custody. I don't trust you not to have some charmed item to facilitate your escape."

If Harry had been expecting further argument, he did not receive it. With a cold and calculating look, Lucius Malfoy began to strip the perfectly tailored fabrics from his body. A body that, as revealed, was obviously the recipient of precise care.

Harry told himself that it didn't matter if he found the blond delicious physically as long as he did his job. Lucius stripped even the tie from his hair, until he was merely a carved figure of alabaster skin in a faux-halo of platinum silk.

Harry's jaw clenched.

"Get dressed, Malfoy."

It was Lucius' turn to smirk at the younger man's discomfort.

"Why, Mr. Potter, does my presence offend thee?"

"Your manner offends me, Malfoy. Get dressed or I will force you."

The stormy gray eyes narrowed slightly as the pale lips twisted into a wry grin.

"It is such a pity you lack interest in the true wizarding arts. It would have been a pleasure to serve you."

Harry cursed his youth and fair skin as the aristocrat's comment drew a pale blush to his face.

"Get… Dressed…" As his fingers tightened convulsively on his wand, Harry ground the words out between gritted teeth.

The blond continued to smirk as he drew the scratchier hospital fabrics onto his form. Harry gestured at the door of a private room, ushering the blond before him. When the older man was in the Spartan room, Harry summoned his gaoler with a sharp, "Dobby!"

The house-elf appeared with a pop, not hesitating to scowl at his former master.

"Dobby, you recall Lucius Malfoy, don't you?"

"Dobby remembers Master Lucius, Harry Potter, Sir."

Lucius' scowl matched the diminutive creature's in antipathy.

"Don't you dare, Potter!"

Harry merely ignored the demand.

"Dobby, I want you to keep Lucius Malfoy in this room until I return. He is not to leave or come to any harm."

"Dobby understands, Harry Potter, Sir."

As Harry left the room, closing the door on Lucius' growl of dissent, he faintly felt like whistling. It was a charmed bit of irony and a splendid decision, he thought.

+++++++++++

Although Harry checked on his subject daily, he otherwise avoided contact with the Malfoy scion. After assuring that the blond was fed, clean, and arguably sane though bored, Harry had no more concern for him.

That all changed when the Wizengamot arrived.

The infirmary had been prepared for the occasion, set with chairs around a central testing dais. Harry, having ascertained that he was as ready as he could possibly be, retrieved his subject. Malfoy was seated primly in his chair, waiting with ill-disguised impatience. He was docile in a silently hostile manner as he stretched his tall frame upon an overstuffed chaise lounge.

The members of the court conducted the necessary business and then directed Harry to proceed. There was an instant in which the younger wizard thought he saw fear in the dark gray eyes but it was gone just as quickly.

With a flick of his wand, he intoned, "Somnus Stabilare," and Lucius Malfoy was in a static sleep. With a more complicated gesture, Harry continued to bespell the blond and an adapted Muggle movie-viewing screen.

"Priori Imperious Incantatum."

It was to the amazement of all that a gold mist enveloped the unconscious figure before moving to seep into the screen. Almost immediately, the blank white screen lit up with a magical view on Cassius Malfoy's use of the Imperious Curse against his own son.

There was a general outcry when Harry froze the recording after two repetitions. His face was pale, the harsh truth in front of him neither what he wanted nor what he had hoped for. As Lucius Malfoy's lawyer argued with the Wizengamot for the immediate release of his client, Harry watched the steady breathing of the unconscious man.

Lucius had been so long one of his personal vendettas that he was not yet ready to release that hatred. What did all this mean?

It was obviously not the first time Madame Bones had called him as her voice betrayed her annoyance.

"Mr. Potter!"

Harry glanced at her, seeing that the white-lipped attorney had clearly lost his argument. He couldn't meet Albus Dumbledore's eyes as the current leader of the court addressed him.

"Can you remove the Imperious from Mr. Malfoy?"

Harry was forced to clear his throat before responding, "I believe so."

"Then do it, Mr. Potter."

The wizard turned to his subject, flicking his wand.

"Ennervate!"

Ice gray eyes snapped open, focusing immediately on the conflicted green gaze. Harry bit gently on his lower lip before shrugging and casting the spell.

"Finite Imperio Cantatum."

It was as if a great wind suddenly filled the infirmary, a change in weather and pressure that manifested solely on the form of Lucius Malfoy. The air around him visibly pulsed with a dark black mist that was stripped away. Its passage left only the finely featured blond man and his obvious disorientation.

+++++++++++

There were a variety of ways to wake from deep sleep. One could rise gently to the surface, buoyed by dreams. One could drift into a seamless awake, mind barely recalling its rest.

But Lucius was dumped harshly into the light of day, his formless void of happy detachment stripped from his mind. The vague satisfaction and boundless apathy towards consequences vanished with a crashing awe.

He lurched into a sitting position, his arms grasping the chaise for reaffirmation of reality. Even as his mind echoed with his father's voice and memories of his life, he turned to face Harry Potter. The visage of arrogant disdain was gone, replaced only by bewilderment. All details, down to the emotive texture of his silky voice, were tangibly altered.

"What have you done to me?"

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