So the Weasleys are still around... Who: Zacharias Smith and Draco Malfoy When: Wednesday afternoon Where: Smith's flat, Chelsea What: Seeking information from each other, and lunch!
London was loud, though it shouldn't have surprised Draco as much as it did. Used to living in an urban area, he was more interested in watching how fast they moved, everyone in a hurry to get somewhere. In his little corner of the world, people moved slower.
Draco wasn't sure why he was even meeting with Zacharias, other than he didn't know what was happening in Britain, what had happened to the others he knew, and who better to ask than a newsman. Yet it wasn't as if they'd ever been friends...
Having received excellent directions to Zach's flat in Chelsea, Draco approached with curiosity. Hands full of food from a local restaurant, he knocked on the door with his foot.
"Come in," Zacharias called before getting the door and opening it.
"Malfoy," he said in greeting, unsure whether they were friends or not enough to go by first names.
"Reception Room, Kitchen, Bedrooms and Loo down the hall," Zach said as he gave Malfoy the quick tour. "We can eat at the table in the kitchen. Don't do a lot of formal entertaining here."
"It's cheery," Draco replied sarcastically, but with a grin on his face. Following Zach to the kitchen, he dropped the bags of food on the table. "Thanks again for agreeing to see me." Unloading the bags, he added, "My father and I - well, its complicated. There are some things I can't ask him about, so I hoped you might be able to enlighten me about the current situation."
Looking up at Zach, he tried to decipher what was going on in the other man's head. "How has the reception been to the news broadcast?" he asked politely.
"Only response I've heard has been good - but that was from those of us from the Old Families. Have had a bunch of people notifying us, so we're trying to compile a list of possible locations, sort out their truth and we'll see if they're worth sending on to the Ministry. Not that I'm sure how much the Ministry will actually do," Zach answered with a shrug as he took out plates and silverware. "Something to drink? Beer? Wine? Something stronger?"
"Beer would be great," Draco said, nodding his thanks. "What exactly is left of the Ministry?" he asked. "I know there's some sort of Confederation in place, now that the Wizengamot's sort of bottomed-up." Draco took the plate Zach handed to him, and in exchanged passed one of the Styrofoam packages to him. "All I've heard is alarmist news in America, how the UK's better off being abandoned."
He gave Zach an appraising look. "What do you think?"
Zach passed Draco a beer and took a seat at the table.
"That sounds like Confederacy rubbish to me. There's the remnants of the Ministry - one of the Weasleys is still working on it - but well, it's not all that effective, and least not in my opinion. The Confederacy is filled with that type of trash - them trying to leave us to deal with this on our own. Obviously Britain shouldn't be indebted to anyone, but come on, they can't just cut off trade and supplies with us for no reason. Truth be told, I wouldn't want to be in the Ministry's shoes, but you need to do something."
Draco took a sip from the beer. "What can be done?" he wondered. "My first instinct would be to fight back somehow, to strike at the Muggles, but I can rationally see how that would only lead to more trouble. It would feel good though," he admitted. "When I heard about Hogwarts..." he shrugged. "I've never been so angry."
"A group of wizards attacked one of their landmarks. I think it was the Weasleys and their lot," Zacharias said as he sipped his beer. "But I think we're going to be picking up on the action front - starting with Astoria's rescue. Hopefully we'll be able to deal a fair bit of damage to them.."
"So the Weasleys are still around," Draco sniffed. "Can't seem to get rid of them, can you?" Taking a couple of bites of food, he waved his fork around. "You said they were working with the Confederation AND blowing up monuments? That's a bit at cross-purposes, I think anyway."
Draco took another swig from his bottle. "Anyone else around I might remember?" he asked curiously.
"Well, you know the redheads -they breed like bunnies," Zach teased with a grin. "One of 'em died, I think - Ron. He and Granger wedded. And then Potter's gone, probably dead. No big loss there. A couple of the other white hats are here and there - Longbottom, Finnigan, etc. Fawcett married Finnigan - can you imagine? Marrying a half-blood. No sense of loyalty. Summerby's still around too. His sister as well. Some of the older snakes - but you saw most of those at the meeting, I reckon. "
Draco's bottle fell from his hand onto the table, as he stared at Zacharias. "Dead? Potter's dead?" he repeated incredulously. "And the Weasel too?" Sitting back in his chair, he blew out of his mouth. "That's unexpected," he said, chewing on his lip. "Thought they were all riding off into the sunset together..."
Draco drifted off a moment, then returned his attention back to Smith. The others he'd mentioned hadn't affected him the same way the Golden Trio had, but the information was useful and Draco filed away the information for future reference.
"Plenty died when they blew up the Ministry," Zach said soberly.
"So, what have you been up to? You just disappeared. People talk. What's the truth?"
Draco quirked an eyebrow. "What did they say about me?" he asked curiously, wondering if anyone even came close to the truth.
"Lots. That you ran away. That your father sent you away. That you were a coward. That you were dead," Zach said, taking a sip of his beer. "What's the real story? Off the record."
"Off the record?" Draco snorted, pulling his billfold out of his trousers.
"Meaning I won't broadcast it on the Wireless. Not without your permission," Zach said, watching Draco curiously.
Giving him a careful look, Draco opened his wallet, pulled out a business card and tossed it at Smith.
"Not really a secret," Draco admitted casually, a hint of pride in his voice. "Just didn't broadcast it."
"I'm impressed," Zach admitted, twirling the card between his fingers. "What do you teach in advanced spellwork? Dark Arts? Curses? Charms?"
"Blocking and shielding is freshman level coursework, but I teach a couple of those classes every year. You'd be surprised how many of them can't properly shield themselves, even at the collegiate level. Now the older students," he grinned, "those are the fun classes. We deal in spell-creation, and each semester we pick a different area to concentrate in." Draco sat back in his chair again. "This spring we were working on spells that affected specific parts of the body."
Now that was interesting.
"What can you teach me about spell creation?"
Draco chuckled. Cheeky. "Bring me another beer, and I'll tell you."