"I believe this is where I came in," Professor Dumbledore stepped into the awkward silence that followed, "the boys came to me just before the summer holidays. They were in something of a quandary since they knew Draco would be forced to take the Dark Mark after his seventeenth birthday and yet he refused to claim sanctuary for the sake of his mother. He believed she would be killed if he did not return."

"And how did you help them, Headmaster?" Rita asked, sounding for all the world like a real journalist rather than the gossip monger they had all come to know and distrust.

"This," it was Draco who spoke and held out his left arm.

Rita did not even attempt to hide her shock as she saw the snake without the skull. Her paper had clearly printed a picture of Draco Malfoy's Dark Mark only the day before, calling for an investigation.

"That's impossible," she said, clearly confused.

"Far from that, My Dear," Professor Dumbledore said in his usual fatherly tone, "merely somewhat difficult. I must admit it was a most interesting puzzle, but one I am glad to say we managed to solve. I placed that mark on young Mr Malfoy's arm the week before he returned home and at the time it resembled Tom's mark. It was hidden behind illusions designed to break and absorb Tom's power when he went to place a real mark on Mr Malfoy's arm, thus protecting him from Tom's evil and allowing him time to remove his mother from danger. Of course, to our disgrace we were unable to predict that Tom had other requirements of Mr Malfoy that he could not bring himself to fulfil."

It was obvious to Harry that Rita wanted the gritty details of the 'other requirements', but Dumbledore's tone clearly indicated that such questions would not be tolerated.

"That is ..." Rita said, looking at the mark closely and somewhat suspiciously.

"Not faked," Draco finished for her and gave her a sympathetic smile as if he understood her quandary. "There is no illusion now; you may cast Finite Incantatum if you wish."

If there was one thing that could be said for Rita Skeeter, other than the fact that she had a nose for a good story, it was that she took care in making sure she could backup what she wrote, even if her sources were suspect.

"You understand," she said and she actually almost sounded apologetic, "that in a case like this I should be sure."

"We want you to be," Harry said, although he had to sit on his instincts firmly when she pulled out a wand.

The spell only took a moment and when Draco's mark did not change, Rita appeared surprised and convinced.

"So you were never actually a Death Eater, Draco?" Harry squeezed Draco's hand as the woman's attention turned back to Draco's face rather than his arm.

"No," Draco replied without the slightest trace he was lying through his teeth. "I knew there would be no chance of escape until after I had taken the mark; as soon as I returned home I was watched constantly. We thought that once I had the mark I would be trusted enough so that I could get my mother away, but I was locked in my room the same night and I did not see the outside again until Harry sent my mother to get me. When Voldemort died the mark should have returned to what you can see now and when it didn't I thought it had gone wrong. After everything that had happened I didn't know what to do, so I just let everything happen. Then after a day or so it finally changed and I realised that I was being an idiot, so I came to Harry."

"We were going to bring the information up when Draco finally came to trial," Harry took over, not bothering to hide the protectiveness he felt towards his lover, "but we believe the Ministry will try and take him away from here and that..." the words became stuck in his throat.

He had known it would happen and it had the desired effect.

"Have you had another premonition, Harry?" Rita asked clearly understanding what was going on.

Harry nodded and let himself look relieved while trying to not overact. He was not about to try and tell her that what he had seen was an illegal kidnapping and murder, so he let her think what she would. Hopefully when the story broke there would be enough clamouring to mean that they could get this settled with very little fuss. Going against the Boy Who Lived in the current climate would be political suicide for anyone. In a way Harry hoped Fudge tried, but he was more concerned about Draco than the Minister's continuing employment.

"Is this why you really saved Draco, Harry?" this was the question that had bothered them the most, because it implied Harry had lied to the Wizengamot.

"No," he said slowly as if trying to remember, "I don't think so. I really wasn't thinking like that at the time. When Draco didn't come back for seventh year I thought he'd changed his mind and gone over to Voldemort's side. I'd stopped thinking of him as anything to me, because it hurt too much and after what happened I didn't think he'd ever want anything to do with me. It wasn't until after the mark changed that anything began to make sense again."

The little round of soul baring seemed to please Rita, although she did at least appear slightly sympathetic. When her attention turned towards his friends, Harry almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"And what, as Harry's friends, do you think of this?" the woman asked with all her usual tact.

"Harry told us the truth just before they went to Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said with a proficiency in lying Harry had had no idea she possessed. "It was a shock at first, but we'd have to have been blind not to see that something was going on by the way he was suddenly so happy."

It appeared Hermione knew how to tug on the ole heart strings like a pro.

"I didn't react too well," Ron said, sounding sheepish, "because me and Malfoy have been enemies for ages, but Hermione is right and Harry needed Malfoy, still does, so what kind of best mate would I be if I didn't support him?"

"But I hear there have been some altercations between you and Draco since he came back, Ron," Rita said far too sweetly.

Ron blushed as if embarrassed.

"Yeah, well I thought he'd ditched Harry and was back to being a git," Ron said and sent an apologetic look towards Draco; although the story was fabricated Ron's remorse about the incident was real. "I couldn't exactly tell everyone what was really going on, so the whole junior Death-Eater thing was all I had left."

Rita seemed to be buying the whole thing if her expression was anything to go by.

"We're Harry's friends," surprisingly it was Neville who spoke up very firmly, "and we'll support anything that makes him happy. He's done what he had to do and now it's time to let him have his life. That includes Malfoy, which is why we called you, because the Ministry wants a Malfoy as an example because the one who did all the damage is already dead. Lucius was the evil bastard and he got what was coming to him; Draco's one of us and if the Ministry want to try and hurt him they have to go through us ... and you can quote me on that."

All of Harry's protective instinct sat up and cheered his friend's words; he had never been prouder to be a Gryffindor in his life.

The rest of Rita's questions were just clarifications and Harry answered where he could and gave her a glare when she stepped over the line, but it was mostly amicable. It was clear that the story had been accepted as true and Harry did not mind giving away a few personal details to sell it all the way. By the time she was finished they had her eating out of the palms of their hands.

"Well thank you for thinking of me," the woman said as she finally put her quill away, "I can guarantee that this will be on the front page of the late edition of the Prophet. The world will know the truth. If I send a photographer over as soon as I floo back would you mind allowing a picture of your arm, Draco?"

Hermione produced a small packet and handed it to Rita.

"We thought you might need these," she said with a slight smile at the woman's look of surprise; "there are a few shots of the new mark and a couple of Harry and Draco as well. One of our house mates is a good photographer."

"Thank you," Rita seemed genuinely pleased.

She was turning to go and Harry was about to let himself relax when she turned back with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Just one other thing, Harry," she said as if she had just remembered, "the world will want to know if you'll be attending the awards ceremony."

That caused him to frown; he had no idea what she was talking about.

"What awards?" he asked, not bothering to hide what he was truly feeling.

That seemed to stump the reporter for a moment.

"The Order of Merlin awards for services to the war," she said as if she thought it was obvious.

"Oh," Harry replied, not really sure it was anything to do with him, "I didn't know there was going to be a ceremony. They probably wouldn't want me there anyway; I might scare the people getting the awards. I haven't been invited."

Rita looked truly astounded, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Don't be ridiculous," she said and she sounded affronted, "they have to have invited you; they're awarding you the Order of Merlin first class. The list is being officially announced in the paper tomorrow morning and I know the invitations to the ceremony have already gone out."

Harry sat there without a clue as to what to say. He would have refused any invitation anyway, but he was sure he would have been told if he had had one. He looked to Professor Dumbledore to find out what was going on.

"Your mail has been quite considerable, my boy," the headmaster said looking him straight in the eye, "but rest assured we would have brought something this important to your notice the moment it arrived. There has been no invitation."

Then Dumbledore turned to Rita, a very serious look in his eye.

"My dear, would you care to join me for tea in my office?" the headmaster asked cordially. "I do not believe this is something we should burden the children with, but I would be most interested to know if there are any others on the list who have not received invitations."

The look Professor Dumbledore sent Harry as the headmaster lead Rita towards the door told him that the details would be forthcoming when they were known, so he did not comment on being excluded. There were some things it really was best to leave to the headmaster.