Luminescence

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! I had finals, then Christmas, then getting wisdom teeth out. It's been hectic, but finally I was able to update this! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Deadly Trap

Almost a week had passed since Christmas Eve and Harry had continuously wondered why Malfoy had been by himself. He couldn't get the thoughts of Malfoy out of his head and it was bothering him. He needed a distraction and unfortunately the only distraction he had was going to work to do an assignment…which would be with Malfoy. Sighing irritably, Harry wondered why he even cared about what was going on with the arrogant blond. Surely he didn't care; they weren't friends after all, just coworkers. Malfoy could still be just as obnoxious as when he was at Hogwarts and Harry couldn't stand it.

He flew back home after grocery shopping and saw that there was a letter lying on the ground in front of his door. He looked around but didn't see any owl. Perhaps the owl had just gotten tired of waiting for him to come home. He picked up the letter and turned around. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and he wheeled around. His eyes scanned the area. It was getting dark but he could still see all the trees, and the nearby houses. His placement was more like a condo in the sense that he was isolated from other people; he wasn't in a complex surrounded by other people, but rather he was in his own spot nearby a couple neighborhoods. The Minister had helped him set it up. He didn't want to pay for a condo because it was only him, so he got a one bedroom apartment and with some charms they moved it to a more private place. Harry recently charmed his apartment as well so that reporters wouldn't find him.

He turned to go back in and heard a low screech. When he turned around, he saw a large bird, possibly a hawk, flying away. It couldn't have been the bird to deliver the letter though because hawks hadn't been used since Voldemort was a kid, according to Hermione. Just another random tidbit she knew. Hawks were more aggressive and rarer than owls so they were forbidden to use for mail. They weren't even sold much as pets anymore. Harry entered his place and looked around. He felt like something was off, but nothing looked out of place. He opened the letter:

Assignment Two:

Your next assignment is to collect samples of Fanged Allysium, it is in the same family as Fanged Geranium. It is the sister plant to the Fanged Geranium but is much harder to find due to the fact that it can only grow in swampy climates. Be warned, this plant bites as well. You can find it in the Misty Swamp located in Geneva, Switzerland. This swamp is hidden from muggle view so you must go down by Lake Geneva and you will see what looks to be an old wall covered in vines at the end of the shoreline going north. If you say this spell: Revealus Obscruus Absconditus then the path will be revealed to you. You will be able to enter the swamp from there. I am sure that you will have no problems handling this.

Best of Luck,

Dimitri

Harry felt a bit excited at the prospect of another assignment. It was much shorter than the letters he usually got, but if he remembered correctly on his OWLS the Fanged Geranium wasn't deadly. It would bite and could injure someone if bitten enough, but otherwise it wasn't that dangerous. This would probably be an easier assignment than the Venomous Tentacula. Harry put his groceries away and then he thought about owling Malfoy to see when he wanted to go. For several minutes he debated, but then he decided to owl him. If they were going to be partners, they would have to learn to communicate civilly. He owled Malfoy to meet him at work so he decided to get some lunch and then fly over there.

About an hour later Harry arrived at the building and was anxiously wondering if Malfoy was there. He wasn't sure why he was anxious. To his dismay Cyprian turned the corner.

"Harry! Haven't seen you for some time," he said, grinning. "How are the assignments going?"

"Good," Harry answered reluctantly. "Er, speaking of which, I should really get going. I've got another assignment to do."

"Okay, well, I will walk with you then," Cyprian said, following beside him.

Harry wanted to tell him to bugger off, but he wasn't sure how to do it politely.

"I actually have to meet with Dimitri first in private," Harry said, thinking of the first excuse he could.

"Of course, he's so meticulous about his assignments," Cyprian said. "Ah well. Perhaps some time we can hang out when you get a break in between assignments."

"Er, yeah, maybe, I've been kind of swamped."

Harry hurried off toward the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief when he was safe inside. He approached Dimitri's office, wondering if he really needed to see him or not, when suddenly a door opened and Malfoy emerged.

"Malfoy," Harry said, halting.

The blond's eyes locked with his. He was wearing very dark jeans and a black t-shirt that was nicely fitted. The dark contrast with the shirt made Malfoy's silver-grey eyes seem to glow. Harry felt rather plain in his simple faded jeans and his dark maroon-colored t-shirt. It was a plain t-shirt that fit him nice, but wasn't quite as nicely fitted as Malfoy's, and it was simple. He also noticed that Malfoy's shirt had a lower neckline so part of his collar bone was visible. He didn't know why after all these years that he would compare himself to Malfoy or feel a bit self conscious. He chalked it off as nerves.

"I assume you got the next assignment," Malfoy said bluntly, without even a greeting.

Harry inwardly seethed, hoping that Malfoy wasn't going to be in a bad mood if they were going to work together.

"Yeah," Harry answered. "You want to go now?"

"I have some things to do first," Malfoy said, crossing his arms. "We can meet after lunch at the Three Broomsticks. We can go from there."

"Er, all right, so what time?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Let's just say two."

With that the blond walked past him and Harry instantly caught a whiff of his cologne. It was rather subtle but fresh smelling. He inadvertently stared at Malfoy and the blond caught his eye. Harry wished he had his glasses on. He suddenly felt exposed as though Malfoy could read his mind just by looking into his eyes. And if he could read his mind, he would know that Harry was feeling rather upset that Malfoy was just blowing him off. What was the blond doing there anyway so early if he was not waiting to do the assignment? Malfoy casually glanced at him but then disappeared around the corner.

Harry couldn't discern the look he gave him. Harry was about to turn and walk in the same direction to leave until he glanced toward the door that Malfoy had emerged from. Curiously, Harry walked over to it. The sign on the door read Archives. Harry pushed open the door and closed it behind him. The room was full of books and journals and papers all organized in rows of shelves. There were ones organized by year and by subject. After examining some of the books, he realized a lot of them were old potion books, or research information on various potions, magical ingredients, and all sorts of things helpful to find any magical solution. It didn't have to do with the company but seemed to be all sorts of compiled information. And to Harry's dismay, he found a section on dark magic. He cursed under his breath as he stared at the ancient books. Opening one, he found various potions that were certainly illegal now. Other books contained information on magical plants and creatures that had certain affects on a person, like changing appearances, or altering memories. Harry wondered just what Malfoy was looking for and what he planned to do with that information.

By the time two came around, Harry was feeling more and more suspicious of Malfoy. He couldn't discern what he was feeling. They kind of worked well as a team, at times, and he seemed to be a bit different than the cocky, arrogant, rude, spoiled brat he remembered, but there was still something about the blond that unnerved him. They hadn't exactly left on bad terms since Christmas Eve, but they weren't friends either.

"Potter!"

Harry wheeled around and saw Malfoy walking toward him.

"Good, still don't have your dorky glasses then?" Malfoy smirked.

Harry glared. "Can we just get this over with?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Fine with me. I've got better things to do."

Clenching his fists, Harry felt his temper boil. He hated that Malfoy made it seem like their assignments were nothing important.

"We're going to have to catch a train and then fly the rest of the way there," Malfoy said, as they walked somewhat side-by-side away from the Three Broomsticks. Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and he turned around. He didn't see anyone around.

"What?"

"Er, nothing. So, did a hawk send you your letter?"

Malfoy glanced at him and gave him an incredulous look. "A hawk? Hawks aren't used for mail anymore Potter.

Harry didn't want to tell Malfoy how strange it was that his letter was lying on the ground when he came home. Normally the owls would wait for him, or try back again, but it was just lying in the open. And then he remembered seeing that hawk up in the tree. However, he wasn't about to explain this to Malfoy. Obviously, the blond would tease him about being paranoid and start calling him Mad-Eye Potter.

"It's nothing. There was a hawk at my place that's all. I was just curious. So have you been to this location before?"

"Geneva? Or Switzerland?"

Harry was shocked that his question wasn't countered with a sarcastic remark. "Either."

"I've been to Switzerland with my parents," Malfoy said. "It was years ago when I was little though, before Hogwarts."

Harry nodded. "So this plant apparently bites, but he didn't say it was fatal so it shouldn't be as bad as our last one."

"Hopefully not," Malfoy muttered.

The two of them apparated the rest of the way to the train station and bought their tickets to Switzerland. Harry was grateful that the wizard trains were charmed to go at least three times as fast as a muggle train. He had heard Seamus blabbing one time about having a first class train experience once and there not only did they get free meals and butterbeer, but apparently first class was a separate smaller train that went even faster than the normal ones. Harry bet that Malfoy had experienced that already since his family often spent ridiculous amounts of money on things.

Thankfully, the train wasn't crowded and they found a spacious compartment to sit in. They both bought some snacks. Harry did it mostly out of boredom. Malfoy propped up his legs as he lay down on the compartment bench across from him. Harry glanced at him and watched him stick a squirming chocolate frog into his mouth. The image was just so surreal that before he realized out he chuckled loudly.

Malfoy turned to him and Harry pretended to be preoccupied with opening his sandwich.

"What's so funny, Potter?" Malfoy said after chewing.

Harry shrugged and stuffed a bite of sandwich in his mouth. Picturing the frogs legs squirming from Malfoy's mouth Harry burst into laughter again uncontrollably.

"Seriously Potter!" Malfoy exclaimed, throwing his legs over the bench. He glared at Harry. "What the hell is so funny?"

"It's nothing, it's just…"

"It's just what?" Malfoy snapped.

"Just the way you eat your chocolate frogs," Harry said, biting his lip to keep from laughing again.

The blond's eyes narrowed. He snatched something up and then stalked over to him. Harry glanced up as Malfoy towered above him.

"What, Malfoy? I'm just teasing. You don't have to get pissed off about everything. Lighten up."

"Fine, well two can play that game, Potter."

Malfoy stuck out his hand and Harry glanced down at the chocolate frog sitting idly in his hand.

"You want me to eat it?"

"Yes, Potter. Since you're so entertained by me eating one, let's see how entertaining you'll be."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Malfoy, why do you always have to ruin a good moment?"
"What good moment, Potter? No moments with you are good."

"That's not because of me. You always have to act like an asshole even when I'm trying to get along," Harry blurted out.

"Really? You mean like your 'happy Christmas' thing?" Malfoy asked, his blue eyes boring into his. "Are you rejecting my challenge, Potter? If so, then I think you and I should do things separately from now on."

Harry felt his body trembling with rage. How could he be so childish? Just because Harry thought it was funny how he ate his frog! He was actually enjoying the blond's company for once until Malfoy had to go and open his big mouth. And now he wanted them to have to deal with unknown dangers separately just because of that?

"You know that you could have never survived that dragon attack without me, Malfoy! So where do you come off threatening me? If you'd rather face the unknown by yourself with whatever Dimitri might put us through, then so be it. But you're the one who complained that it wasn't worth risking your life over. And with two of us, we're less likely to die."

Malfoy scowled. "Fine, Potter, whatever. If you don't eat this then you will have to buy me dinner for the next week."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What? Just because I laughed! Not a chance in hell, Malfoy."

"Embarrassed Potter? Is your way of eating this even more amusing than mine?"

"Malfoy! Merlin, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you making a big deal out of this?" Harry snapped, glaring up at him. "I'm doing this only on one condition!"

Malfoy sneered. "What's that?"

"If I do this, then you need to promise me that you'll try to get along and not be so irritating on these assignments."

"I'm not the only one who's irritating!"

"Just promise me, Malfoy!"

The blond stared at him for several seconds before finally snorting. "Fine. Here."

The blond tossed the chocolate frog in his lap but remained standing up over him. Harry sighed irritably already dreading their assignment. He quickly unwrapped the chocolate frog and just as it sprang to life, Harry roughly tried to shove it in his mouth. Unfortunately, just as he feared, the chocolate frog attempted to get away, resulting in one of its legs smacking him in the nose in the process.

Malfoy smirked. "Seems like you're a lot worse at this."

"Shut-up!" Harry said with a mouthful of frog.

The blond went back over to his seat, looking content and Harry wanted to punch him so bad. For the rest of the trip Harry lay with his hands over his chest facing the ceiling so he wouldn't have to look at Malfoy. He couldn't believe he had even thought that they could work together well. It was impossible to work well with someone like Malfoy!

The train finally stopped and they both summoned their brooms. It was a cloudy day which didn't help Harry's mood. When they got to the lake they looked for the place that Dimitri told them. They had to walk all the way down the shore but they eventually found the area surrounded in vines.

"Okay, so we say Revealus Obscruus Absconditusand then—"

Just as Harry spoke the words, a secret entrance was revealed. Malfoy shrunk his broom down and then entered first with his wand out. Harry followed behind him hoping it was going to be a quick easy assignment. It was already getting later. It was close to five so the sun would be setting in a couple hours. The first thing Harry noticed was that it was even darker in the swampy area. The fog surrounding them made it hard to see and made it feel as though it was already nighttime. They had their wands out shining light but due to the fog the light didn't help much. Harry murmured a spell that helped lift some of the fog. Malfoy glanced back at him looking a bit surprised.

"Where did you learn that spell?" Malfoy asked, sounding a bit suspicious.

"Why?" Harry asked.

Malfoy shrugged. "No reason just figured you were too clueless to know an advanced spell like that."

"I may not know a lot of spells Malfoy, but I'm not inept…," Harry trailed off. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

Malfoy snorted. "Neither am I, Potter."

Harry remained silent wondering why he suddenly felt like he had a pit in his stomach. They kept walking through the swamp, stepping over large muddy puddles. The fog did not seem to be lifting and in fact started to get worse. There was something about the fog that was unnatural. Even when Harry attempted his fog lifting spell, the effect wouldn't last.

"Where the hell is this plant?" Malfoy scowled.

"I don't know," Harry murmured.

Harry felt the hairs on his neck prickle again and this time he wheeled around. Something wasn't right. It felt like they were being watched, but the plant certainly couldn't have caused him to become so nervous. They trudged through the swamp and suddenly Harry stopped cold.

"Malfoy, stop."

The blond turned around. "What Potter? Tell me you see the plant."

Harry turned his head in all directions. He couldn't see anything because of the fog but something was definitely wrong.

"I hear something," Harry said quietly.

"That's great Potter," Malfoy drawled sarcastically.

"Don't move," Harry said as Malfoy took a step forward.

"Potter, don't tell me what to do."

"Something's not right," Harry hissed.

"What are you talking about?" Malfoy asked staring at him as if he had two heads.

"I think we're surrounded," Harry said, feeling the hairs on his arms rise.

Malfoy raised both eyebrows. "I think you're delusional."

"Malfoy, I'm serious!" Harry exclaimed.

"Surrounded by what? Fog? Is that what you're afraid of?" Malfoy sneered.

A crack sounded nearby and Harry wheeled around. Malfoy too turned toward the sound. It was like a twig being snapped. That's when Harry could clearly hear the sounds of footsteps, or something like that. There was a splashing sound, but it was slow, almost unsteady.

"What is that?" Malfoy asked. "It couldn't be the plant."

"Whatever it is, it's getting closer," Harry said holding his wand out in front of him.

"I'm sure it's nothing Potter, just some swamp creatures roaming about. Dimitri would have told us if there were other dangerous creatures out here."

Harry took a step back. He believed that to be true, but still his instincts were telling him to run. He heard something nearby and Harry shot a spell through the fog. He heard a thud.

"I hit something," Harry said, turning toward Malfoy. "There's definitely something out there."

"It's probably just some Gremlins or Runespoors. Stop getting all paranoid Potter."

Harry turned to glare at Malfoy. "I'm not—Ah!"

Harry gasped as something grabbed his leg and tried to pull him down. He tripped and fell onto his back. Malfoy wheeled around toward him just as the head of an Inferius appeared, with its mouth gaping open.

"Incendio!" Harry shouted.

The Inferius screamed as the fire burned it, making it shrink back into the fog. Harry scrambled back to his feet.

"Was that an Inferius?" Malfoy asked, his eyes wide.

Several low groans echoed around them and Harry backed up. Malfoy let out a yell and Harry wheeled around to see something grabbing his arm. Malfoy cursed and shot a spell that flung the Inferius backward.

"How many of them are there?" Malfoy exclaimed.

Harry shouted the fog-lifting spell and swiped his wand in a circle. The fog cleared for an instant and in that instant they saw an entire group of Inferi coming toward them.

"Shit!" Malfoy cursed. "What the hell are they doing here?"

Harry didn't have time to answer as another Inferius came at him. Soon the Inferi were closing in and Malfoy was shouting curses left and right.

"We need to get to higher ground!" Harry shouted.

"How the hell are we supposed to do that? We're surrounded!"

Harry decided that first they needed to get rid of the fog so they could actually see the Inferi before they came at them. His normal spells were not having any effect and that unnerved him. Malfoy shouted as an Inferius grabbed his leg and attempted to trip him. Malfoy stumbled and Harry wheeled around. Something grabbed his shirt and Harry was pulled up towards a decaying face. He only had to think of a spell and the Inferius was flown back away from him. He knew it wouldn't kill them. They would just keep getting up and coming toward them. Whoever was controlling the Inferi was very powerful to control such a large number. There had to be about ten of them. Harry knew the spell "finite incantatem" could stop a currently operating spell effect, but it wasn't powerful enough to subdue the Inferi.

There was nowhere to run and several Inferi were attacking them both at once. Harry knew that they couldn't keep them off for long.

"Potter! Come on! Do something!" Malfoy shouted.

Harry grinded his teeth together. Perhaps if he used "finite incantatem" in conjunction with another spell it would be powerful enough to break the spell incantation controlling the Inferi. An Inferius suddenly grabbed Malfoy's arm and pulled him towards it. At the same time another Inferius jumped toward Malfoy from behind. Harry shouted a curse that made the one behind him catch on fire. Malfoy tried to scramble back to his feet, but two of them grabbed his legs. Three of them came out of the fog reaching toward Harry and he jumped back. He shouted another spell that made the Inferi back off a little bit and he reached down toward Malfoy, grabbing him by the arm roughly.

Malfoy fought to hoist himself up not even yelling at Harry for grabbing him.

"We can't take them all at once."

Suddenly, Harry had a feeling of déjà vu when he and Malfoy were in the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts. Crabbe had cast the unsteady Fiendfyre spell. If Harry used that in conjunction with finite incantatem, it might be strong enough to destroy the Inferi. The only problem was that the Fiendfyre spell was very dangerous and unreliable. It was cursed fire, dark magic, made up of flames of abnormal size and heat that could crumble objects to soot instantly. If left burning long enough it could take the shape of fiery beasts and pursue any humans, which would endanger him and Malfoy, just like what happened in the Room of Requirement. But the incantation was a mixture of a spell and a curse combined. It was powerful ancient magic, like the bond of blood was when his mother sacrificed herself and then Dumbledore cast a charm that Aunt Petunia sealed to protect Harry from Voldemort. It was ancient magic like that so it had to work. It was very powerful, but hard to control. That's why Hermione thought it was too dangerous to use it on Voldemort's Horcruxes even though it would have been as effective as the Gryffindor sword. It was their only shot though. Nothing else he knew of would be powerful enough to stop the Inferi, not this many of them. He remembered when Dumbledore had shot enough fire from his wand at the Inferi when they were in the cavern together. The Fiendfyre would work, it had to!

The Inferi reached out towards them and despite their efforts at throwing spells at them several more came in their place.

"Malfoy, get ready to run!" Harry shouted.

The blond shouted a spell and turned toward him. "What are you going to do?"

"Fiendfyre!"

"Are you insane?" Malfoy shouted. "That could kill us!"

"Got any other bright ideas?" Harry shouted, kicking one of the Inferius in the face, which only made it stagger a couple steps.

The Inferi were so close now they only had a couple of feet between them. They were on all sides and reaching at once. Some of them were clawing at the ground, dragging their dead corpses toward them. Harry gripped his wand tightly and suddenly raised it in the air. Malfoy's eyes widened.
"Fiendfyre!" Harry shouted.

Blue flames shout out from his wand and Harry directed it in front of them. It blew apart the fog and hit several Inferi directly. Unfortunately, more were coming from behind. Malfoy shouted a spell to try and shield them but the Inferi broke through it. One of the Inferius grabbed Malfoy by the neck and pulled his face up to it as it opened its mouth. Harry pointed his wand directly at the Inferius whose vacant eyes turned toward Harry. He released more blue flames, struggling to keep his wand steady. The flames poured out and Harry knew that the only way to get a handle on them was to combine it with the other spell.

"Finite in –" Harry was interrupted as one of the Inferius tore at his shirt, screaming as it tried to take a bite out of him. "Finite Incantatem!"

A white spark flew out of his wand combining with the blue flames already pouring out. A huge blast erupted around them knocking Malfoy to the ground and causing Harry to lose balance. He fell to one knee and almost dropped his wand. Malfoy's wand had fallen from his hands and he struggled to scoot away from the Inferi closing in around him. Malfoy was completely surrounded and Harry could see the Inferi reaching out for him. Harry felt his blood boil and suddenly a huge eruption of blue flames burst forth. Harry struggled to keep a steady grip on his wand and turned his body a complete 360 to make sure the flames surrounded them. The flames took off of their own accord reaching up toward the sky as it began swarming around them like a blue fiery tornado. He heard Malfoy scream and Harry directed his wand toward the group of Inferi hovering over the blond. The Inferi closest to him erupted in flames and burnt to ash. Harry ran toward Malfoy, shouting spells to get the others away.

"Accio wand!"

Harry summoned Malfoy's wand and threw it toward him. Malfoy threw off two of the Inferi, both of which burned to cinders as soon as their bodies were touched by the Fiendfyre. The Inferi were getting burned completely, but unfortunately both Harry and Malfoy were also surrounded by the blue fiery tornado. One of the Inferi released an inhuman cry as its legs were burned off. It kept crawling toward Harry despite this. The blue flames began to enclose around them and Harry backed up until he was standing right next to Malfoy who finally had gotten back on his feet.

"Damnit, Potter! Now what?"

Harry realized that the combination of spells had lifted the fog around them so they could see better. There were only a few Inferi left coming at them slowly. He saw out of the corner of his eye, nearby one Inferius, a small swamp.

"If we run towards that we can jump in and be safe from the fire," Harry shouted, pointing.

Malfoy stared at the swamp. "How the hell do we get there through this?"

"We wait until it becomes a fiery beast! Once it gets out of control it will merge together giving us some space to run."

"That's your brilliant plan?" Malfoy countered. "Wait until it gets powerful enough to swallow us whole? It can incinerate us in seconds!"

"I realize that Malfoy!" Harry snapped.

The flames exploded knocking them both on the ground. It swirled together creating a massive beast that resembled a dragon. During the process it ate up all the Inferi except for the one crawling on the ground to get to them. Harry had been knocked down so hard by the blow that he didn't even notice the crawling Inferi until it was on top of his legs. The Inferi screamed as it bit down onto Harry's pants.

"Get off!" Harry shouted.

A blow threw the Inferius off of him and he realized that Malfoy had been the one to cast the spell. The beast grew to huge proportions and Harry knew that it would explode destroying everything around it.

"RUN!" Harry shouted.

The two of them scrambled to their feet, jumping over the crawling half-burnt corpse of the last Inferius. They ran as hard as they could toward the swamp. Harry looked behind him to see the last Inferius swallowed up by the flames as it exploded out toward them. Despite his fear of drowning, since he still didn't know how to swim well, Harry dove into the water without another thought. He heard a similar splash beside him and could barely see another figure beside him under the murky water. The blue flames lit the surface of the swamp on fire. Harry could see the flicking blue flames swirling above him. He tried not to panic under water as he fought to flail his arms in an attempt at keeping himself near the surface so as not to sink to the bottom.

The flames began to die down just as Harry was running out of oxygen. He flailed his arms, trying to reach his way to the surface. He saw something brown floating nearby and reached his arms up to grab at it. It was thankfully a dead piece of a tree and he was able to pull himself up through the surface of the water by grabbing hold of it. Harry breathed heavily as he gripped the tree log with all his might.

"POTTER!"

Harry cringed as he heard Malfoy angrily scream out his name.

"You could have killed us!"

"We got away from them didn't we?" Harry countered back, trying to push his sopping bangs out of his face.

Harry turned in the water with the log to see Malfoy swimming towards the shore. The blond got out of the water and began to ring his shirt out. Harry was torn between kicking while holding onto the log and trying to make a swim for it without looking like an idiot.

"You going to float out there all day, Potter, or what?" Malfoy snorted.

"Shut-up, Malfoy! If it wasn't for me yo—"

Harry's words were muffled as his body was suddenly yanked under the water. He screamed under water as he felt something sharp scrape against his back and torso. Something was clawing at him. He wasn't even sure what spell he thought of, in fact, he even forgot he had his wand in his hand. Whatever it was he shouted sent sparks out that caused the creature to swim away. He saw the ripples of the water and he pulled himself back up gasping for air. Harry coughed, wincing every time he took a breath.

"Potter! Get the hell out of the water! Are you stupid or something? Hurry up before the Grindylow comes back!"

Harry remembered Remus teaching them about Grindylows in their third year. He knew that they lived on the bottom of lakes and swamps and were native to Britain but could be found elsewhere. They had long sharp, brittle fingers used to grip their prey so they can drag them underwater to eat them. Harry winced as he felt the pain in his back. The water began splashing and Harry could see that the Grindylow was coming back.

"Potter, get out!"

"I can't, it…it attacked me. I won't be able to swim well."

Malfoy cursed. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Harry felt his body rise up out of the water. Malfoy was levitating him. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and then suddenly gasped as the water demon jumped up, opening its wide sharp green teeth toward him.

"Incendio!" Harry shouted.

As fire shot out of his wand, the demon screeched and hurled itself back into the depths of the swamp. Harry felt his body land on the ground and he was relieved. He had had a legitimate excuse for not being able to swim so Malfoy wouldn't know that he couldn't. He didn't even know why he was so embarrassed about it. His life was in danger and he should have just tried to swim, but he knew he wouldn't have been fast enough to reach the shore before the Grindylow caught him.

"Seriously Potter, whenever I'm with you there's always something that goes wrong!" Malfoy shouted.

Harry attempted to get up and hissed with pain. He gripped his stomach as he slowly staggered to his feet.

"Malfoy, shut-up!" Harry hissed, clenching his jaw. He was in pain and was not in the mood to be arguing over something stupid.

He wasn't sure why but the blond didn't make another comment.

"Damnit! Now we have no idea where the hell we ended up now and we still haven't found the plant!"

"We should just come back some other time," Harry said, trying to hide how much pain he was in.

"What? After what we just went through! No way in hell, Potter! Since we're here and since the Inferi have been destroyed we are going to try to find it! Besides, we have to find our way out of this place anyway so we might as well search for it as we go."

Harry winced but realized that his injuries were not fatal so he just walked behind the blond. It stung him to move, but at least they were alive. They walked for about ten minutes. Harry was feeling a bit weary but he was relieved that the worst seemed to be over. However, he could feel blood trickling down his back.

"Malfoy, let's just give up."

"Hold on, Potter! It's got to be around here!"

They walked around towards some nearby trees over by a small pond. Harry was about to just yell at Malfoy for them to leave when he heard the blond cry out.

"Goddamnit!"

He looked over to see a long vine wrapped around Malfoy's arm and fangs were sprouting from the end of it. It snapped at him again and Malfoy cursed shooting a spell so the vine would let go.

"Well, looks like you found it," Harry said flatly. "Hurry up and take a sample, will you?"

"Shut-up, Potter!" Malfoy snarled. He hissed a spell and the plant snapped at him several times. In one swipe, Malfoy cut off the head of one of the fanged ends. He scooped it up into a vial.

"Dimitri is paying us double for this!" He snapped heatedly.

Harry just sighed, feeling grateful they could go back now. The two of them managed to find their way out since the fog had lifted. It was very strange how the fog was suddenly no longer there. When they got to the train station, Harry just about collapsed into a seat. He groaned in pain and Malfoy glanced over at him.

"What the hell's the matter with you?"

Harry gazed at him. "The Grindylow, remember? It attacked me."

"Where?"

"On my back mostly, but also on my stomach," Harry said.

"Well, you're not dying Potter," Malfoy said, sitting back in his seat.

"Thanks Malfoy," Harry drawled. "I'll remember this moment for when you get injured."

Malfoy opened his mouth to retort but their compartment door opened and in walked an older witch with a trolley of goods. Harry instantly bought a butterbeer, hoping it would make him feel better. The blond actually looked worn out. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were dirty and still damp. They actually rode the entire way in silence. When they got back it was already too late to go back to the building.

"We'll just have to go see him tomorrow morning for our pay," Malfoy scowled.

Harry nodded slightly as he was too exhausted to do much else.

"And I'm going to have a word about him sending us into a nest of Inferi!"

"I doubt he knew about it," Harry said.

Malfoy glanced at him and then shrugged. "Whatever."

The blond then took off in the direction of his home. Harry took his time getting home and when he arrived he realized something was off. The protections he had set up for his apartment didn't put up much of a fight as he got inside. In fact, he noticed that somebody must have been tampering with them. Feeling unnerved again, Harry checked the house thoroughly before putting up more protections. He would have to take up Malfoy's suggestion of becoming "invisible" so that nobody except the Ministry would know where his house was. Now he wasn't so sure that the Inferi was a coincidence. Somebody obviously knew about his new job and somehow knew where he would be. It occurred to him that the letter Dimitri sent to him, which was lying on the ground, must have been how the person found out where he was going to be. Was he reading too much into it, or was the attack a coincidence?

Harry entered his bathroom once he was sure his place was safe. He took off his clothes and examined his back. There were long cuts down his back and a couple down his torso, but other than that they weren't that deep. The blood had mostly dried so he took a shower to clean up the cuts. Once he was finished, he got dressed and slipped into bed. He lay there thinking about what had happened. He wondered briefly if Luna had been trying to warn him the other day. There was no way she could have known that would happen, could she?

Eventually, Harry got to sleep, but when he woke up the next morning he still felt tired. Ron had owled him back to meet him for lunch so Harry pushed his thoughts away. They met up in Hogsmeade at The Three Broomsticks.

"Harry! Hey, how's the new job going?" Ron asked, patting his back.

Harry sighed heavily.

"Er, what's wrong mate?"

"Well, the job is proving to be much more dangerous than I thought."

Harry explained to Ron what had happened the previous night.

"Blimey! Inferi! Do you think it was a trap?"

"I don't know, but I'm certain Dimitri wouldn't have sent u—me out there if he had known Inferi could be lurking around. Besides, I know that Inferi are created using dark magic so someone had to have created them and let them loose there."

"That's creepy," Ron said. "You don't think it was Death Eaters, do you?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"From what my dad said, most of the Death Eaters have been captured. I mean there are still some I'm sure in hiding, but why would they attack you openly like that?"

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense."

"You know, maybe it was the Malfoys!"

Harry almost choked on his drink. He had been dreading telling Ron and Hermione that he was working with Malfoy so he failed to tell Ron that he hadn't been alone the previous night.

"My dad told me that Lucius is in Azkaban right now. I don't think he's going to be let off easy, if they haven't already decided how long he's going to be there. And Malfoy's mum I think is getting House Arrest."

"What about Malfoy?" Harry asked quietly.

Ron shrugged. "Unfortunately, I don't know about him. Technically dad says that he was a juvenile at the time so they'll probably go easier on him, especially if he was forced into doing things, but I still hope he's punished good. You better be careful though. If Malfoy wants revenge on you for killing You-Know-Who and putting his dad in Azkaban he'd probably go so far as to set Inferi on you."

Harry wanted to laugh aloud considering Malfoy had almost been killed by them as well, but he just nodded. He wasn't sure what to say.

"I'll just have to keep my eyes open. Would you be able to ask your dad about how I can put up protections on my apartment so I'm invisible to anyone looking for me?"

"Yeah, sure, Harry. That's a good idea! Oh, by the way, Charlie said he got me an interview! I get to leave in a week to go to Australia!"

"Oh, er, congratulations."

Ron beamed at him.

Harry wanted to feel happy for him, but he was feeling rather envious that Ron was getting a great opportunity and he was stuck with Malfoy and potentially someone who wanted to kill him…again.

"You know, maybe you should talk to the Minister about everything that's been going on. He may be able to help you figure out who might be behind it."

Harry nodded. "That's not a bad idea. The Minister invited me to this celebration in a couple of weeks anyway so I guess I'll go there and talk to him then."

Ron nodded as he stuffed his face with food. Harry ate slowly thinking about Malfoy and wondering what was going on with him and his family. He still remembered how Malfoy was alone for Christmas Eve and he still wondered why that was. If his mother was on House Arrest, why wasn't he at home with her? Unless…maybe he wasn't allowed inside. No, that didn't make sense. It was Malfoy's home too and where else would he live if he wasn't allowed at the Malfoy Manor?

"Harry!"

Harry blinked out of his daze. "Er, sorry, what?"

"I was just asking you if you think you'll continue this job."

"Oh, er, probably for now. I'll talk to Dimitri about what happened and maybe he'll send me on easier assignments. It is good money and for the most part I like it," Harry said shrugging.

"Is it what you really want to do though?" Ron asked curiously.

"I honestly don't know. It's fine for now."

Ron decided to drop the subject and focused on talking about Quidditch. Since Harry had to meet up with Dimitri by 11, he said goodbye to Ron and went off to work. When he arrived at Dimitri's office, he realized, upon walking in, that Malfoy was already there.

"Ah, Potter, there you are," Dimitri said, looking concerned. "Mr. Malfoy here was just telling me about what you two encountered the other night. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just some cuts from a Grindylow, but nothing major," Harry said, glancing at Malfoy who gazed back at him.

"I am so sorry, if I had known…," he trailed off. "It just doesn't make any sense. Of course, I will pay you double for your troubles, but that's just very strange. Inferi shouldn't be walking around, especially out in swamps. I may have to bring this to the attention of the Minister. Please let me know if anything else suspicious happens."

Harry and Malfoy both nodded. Dimitri levitated their pay to them. "It will probably be a couple of days at least before the next assignment. Why don't you both rest up a bit and recuperate."

Dimitri excused them and Harry opened his envelope to see that they did indeed get double pay.

"Well, I guess it was worth it this time," Malfoy said, counting his own money. "But he better not send us anywhere like that again."

"Yeah, er, Malfoy?"

The blond turned around. "What, Potter?"

"Have you seen anything suspicious?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Er, never mind."

He decided not to mention his apartment protections at the moment, not until he had a chance to talk with the Minister. He hoped it was just his imagination.

Malfoy turned around to walk away and Harry watched him leave. He wasn't sure what to make of Malfoy, but perhaps he should keep a closer eye on him.

TO BE CONTINUED…

To Reviewers:

messyhxdlovers : thank you! I'm glad you like detail! =) I definitely love detail myself. Don't worry if you can't give constructive criticism. As long as you enjoy the chapters that's good enough for me. Yes, I agree, some chapters tend to have more things going on at once. Usually I do that because I'm setting up for something to happen, but I do agree that it's better to have one big thing, like in this chapter. There will be more chapters like this and they will start to get closer very soon! Sorry this took so long. I had finals, and then wisdom teeth removal so finally I got a chance to update this. I won't take as long next time!

HPmeghan7474 : Awww, thank you so much! I'm so glad that you liked Captivation! Hopefully this one will be just as good! Sorry that this took a little while to update. I had finals and then had to get my wisdom teeth out and then of course Christmas and everything, but now I'm back again! It shouldn't take me too long to come out with the next chapter! I'm glad I could come back to fanfiction too. School was consuming my life for a while so I didn't have a chance to update any new stories until recently. I promise to try and update asap!