Love
The men are scattered around the room, some sitting at the table, some in front of the fireplace, on the big green sofa in the center of the room, but all still have their eyes fixed on the point where yet another Patronus has just vanished.
A short and concise message, 'All is fine, silence from the house'. James has the overwhelming feeling that that message, like the last three that have come from the perimeter of the house since midnight, is somehow wrong. Something is wrong. He peeks in the direction of Sirius and catches the same suspicion in his eyes.
"Still nothing from Tonks?" Remus asks without waiting for a real answer. Tonks Patronus has not arrived. The last time she updated them, hours earlier now, she said she had found a way to unlock Harry's door, but from then on, she hadn't made contact anymore, and it is strange. Very strange. The silence is unnerving.
James sighs, his son is being held captive in a cellar, his wife is in the woods of Northern Germany and he is in a freaking living room, locked up in that house, useless, worried to death and angry. Angry at Dumbledore for choosing Lily and two kids to go get Gellert instead of fully qualified Aurors, such as him, Sirius or Laurent. Angry at himself for not knowing what to do next.
He does nothing and Harry and Maya could end up dead, then again, there are chances he'll get the same outcome by doing something.
Lucius snorts loudly breaking the silence, for a fleeting moment James sees him as the young Slytherin captain, pouting because he hasn't won the House Cups in his sixth year, it's just a split second before tiredness and stress cover his features again, and James is brought back to the present.
"This is bullshit. We're waiting around for… what? Tonks has never been late with a single Patronus." Says the blonde wizard pinching the bridge of his pointy nose. A long wrinkle appears on his forehead and his icy gaze returns to rest on Dolohov, who grins on his chair. James diverts his eyes from the man, he can't even look at him. Such a low life.
"What if Riddle has found out?" asks Sirius.
Laurent emerges from behind his own hands and stares at Sirius pursing his lips. Truth is all of them have had that same worry and none of them openly disagree with the idea of just rushing to the old Riddle's villa and do some good old fashion arse kicking, but all of them are still trying to follow Dumbledore's orders. Sirius seems to feel the hesitation lingering over his fellows and springs up from his chair.
"This is getting ridiculous, we should just go there, it's been way too long to keep calm. And this fucker… he keeps smiling every time a Patronus pops in…" spits Sirius, his hair are locked in a weird mess on top of his head, his beard is long and he has a general neglected appearance that reflects pretty much the state of everyone else in the room, except in his case it's pretty much the norm. Everyone turns briefly to stare ad Dolohov; the Death Eater doesn't even try to look innocent and James stomach tightens at the sight of his grin.
"Dumbledore said to stay here…" says Arthur rubbing his eyes and staring at the large clock on the wall, Ronald's hand is alternating from 'In transit' to 'mortal peril' as it has been doing all night, Arthur is unable to take his eyes off of it and who could blame him? James wishes he had a clock like that for his family and makes a mental note to get one as soon as they're back home. Right now the hand is on 'In transit' which is probably the only reason Arthur has been able to say something.
"Dumbledore left with three minors and my wife to try and pull an international criminal out of a maximum security prison in the woods just so Riddle couldn't do it first… I'm not sure how much we should rely on his common sense…"
"Well…" Arthur blushes a little, "But the Aurors outside of the house say they have noticed nothing different..."
"Well they're not inside the house though." Mumbles James, "And haven't you noticed how the Patronus have been so... I don't know... stiff?".
"Are we going then?" Asks Sirius looking around the room. James is afraid that Sirius is too hasty, that he wants to act too soon, but part of himself shares the overwhelming anxiety that something is indeed wrong, it is taking too long.
"Oh this is just awful… why have they left us all here?" mutters Remus, "I can't shake the feeling that something bad has happened…"
Again Dolohov smirks and Lucius springs up from his chair startling the ones sitting next to him.
"Maybe Black is right." Lucius spits out the words as if it physically hurts him to admit it out loud, he has never been able to stand Sirius, "Maybe we should go there. What is the worst that could happen? I mean… best case scenario we talk to the Aurors on the perimeter and come back… help Tonks if she needs it.".
"Tonks did say she knew how to unlock the door. What if she did… but got found out? We all know these type of spells are noisy most of the time..." Gabriel Laurent starts scavenging through the maps rolled on the round table, he pulls out the smaller one from the bunch and begins unrolling it. James glances around the room, something is definitely happening and his heart starts hammering in his chest with anticipation.
"It must be the case... the girl can use her magic, Tonks cracked the spell to unlock the door, Riddle should be weaker because of his freaking horcrux, plus he should be planning to leave for Germany… I don't see why this is taking Tonks so long… Unless something happened or Riddle has progressed faster with his plan." Remus mumbles, "He might have left and brought Tonks-Dolohov along…? Which would leave the children alone in the house, with minor Death Eaters probably… Harry at least…".
"Okay, listen." Sirius starts pacing up and down, stopping in front of Dolohov to glare at his grin at every turn, "Fuck Dumbledore." He has everyone's attention now.
"If he didn't want us to act, he should have brought us along or left us with something to do. I say we just go and confirm that everything is running smoothly. If everything is fine we just come back here… or stay there and keep an eye on the situation until Dumbledore comes back." he adds the second option when James raises his eyebrows. There is no way he is going there leaving Harry behind and they both know.
"What if Dumbledore comes back and needs help with Grindelwald? And what about Dolohov? We can't leave him here unattended." Says Arthur, a low murmuring fills the room, where all the men are now standing around the table.
"Someone has to stay." Sais Remus looking around, no one wants to stay back but someone will have to.
"I'll stay."
"Molly?"
"We will stay here, Arthur, Leonie and I. We should be enough in an emergency. I'll contact Shacklebolt too, fair enough that he wants nothing to do with the Grindelwald situation, but he'll help if the Order needs it, he'll have to and I know he will."
Leonie emerges from the armchair in which she has been listening to the whole discussion, James forgot that she was there given her state of silent catatonia.
The woman nods in agreement.
"What if we're rushing there just because we're a bunch of hot-tempered Aurors who are more used to act on a gut feeling than on clear orders?" asks Remus, but he is already holding to a floo powder pouch and making his way to the fireplace.
"Oh this is definitely us being hot-tempered idiots…" Lucius confirms, "Rest assured, if something happened to... Maya ... If Riddle already has... Potter…" Lucius is overwhelmed by anger and fear and his words get stuck in his throat.
"If anything has happened to my son or their daughter… to Tonks… Riddle is dead. You're not to arrest him. Curse to kill, we'll think about consequences later." Helps James. Sirius, Remus, Lucius, Gabriel and Arthur glance at each other then all nod in agreement.
"You better not act reckless, remember the children's lives are on the line here. We don't want to push Riddle into a corner! He might still kill them or in the best case obliviate them, which would still leave us without enough proofs to arrest him. And I'm talking to you, Sirius." Molly glares at them all before shaking her index in warning in Sirius' direction.
They all agree soon enough, except for Sirius who pouts for a while longer before mumbling something about not being an idiot.
"What kind of situation are we expecting to find?" asks Sirius stepping around the table to look at the map, already laid in front of Laurent.
"According to the Aurors on the outside, the house has been silent as usual. So I'm guessing they're in their rooms, probably sleeping considering the late hour. So according to Tonks' last report and Dolohov's confessions…" His finger travelled around the map for a moment under everyone's gaze, "Maya should be up here and the boy… down here. While Riddle's room… should be here."
"If the situation has escalated, we will decide on the best course of action." The man rolls the map and before anyone can add anything he has a Patronus at his side, the beautiful silver wolf glances around the room while Gabriel gives his instructions then vanishes into thin air, "It will be better to have some backup ready, just in case." he explains nodding in the direction in which the animal has vanished.
"I'm going to get Narcissa upstairs." Lucius vanishes with a loud crack and they can hear him pacing upstairs the second later.
"Maybe Dumbledore made a mistake ... leaving all these men of action in a room, waiting around…" Arthur says as everyone else fasten their cloaks and prepares to leave.
"Ou peut-être qu'il l'a fait exprès..." [Or maybe, he did it on purpose] Leonie murmurs unscrewing the cap of a little flask.
"James, my friend." Says Remus, "Step in the fireplace.".
Harry wakes up with a start. The feeling that something isn't right almost immediately grips his stomach clenching it in a tight knot.
The ghost of a scream lingers in the silence of the night.
Harry's eyes are fixed on the ceiling tiles while he stretches all his senses to the deafening silence of his prison. Nothing. Was it just a dream? Lately his nightmares have blended so well with the everyday life, that it was hard for Harry to see the blurred lines between night terrors and reality.
He is just about to roll to his side and dismiss the feeling as the result of just another nightmare, when he clearly hears it again. A piercing scream. Definitely a girl's scream. Maya's to be precise.
Harry jumps off his cot and toward the door, his ear resting against the wooden door, his mouth dry and his heart threatening to explode in his chest.
Something is definitely wrong; Harry doesn't need anyone to say it out loud to know that their plan has just gone south. The screams resume but Harry can't make up the words Maya is screaming at the top of her lungs. Is she even saying something? Maybe she is just being tortured.
"MAYA?!" Harry screams back, he punches on the door, cries, but no one comes to get him out of there, while Maya's screaming seem endless.
Like a caged animal, Harry walks in circles, growling and screaming, sobbing, as the chilling cries from upstairs make his heart ache.
"Damn it, Maya! Give the signal!" he roars sliding with his back on the door and sitting on the floor with his eyes fixed on the lumpy cot on the other side of the small room. The wand is hidden under the mattress; he hasn't been able to keep it in the shape of a pebble long after Maya has given it to him, so he has resolved hiding the thing in the only place he could think of.
Harry sits there, wondering if he should just ignore Maya's plan and act on a whim. Blow up the door and get out. Then again, he has no idea about what is going on upstairs.
Is his door still sealed and spellbound? Will Riddle be notified if he tries to open it? Has Tonks managed to remove the spell from it? Is this just part of Maya's plan to get Riddle out of the house? So many questions, too many risks, and so he sits there, his face hidden between his knees.
Harry gasps as one last cry makes his skin crawl and then suddenly, all sounds from the upper floor cease and Harry finds himself swallowed in a deafening silence. He jumps to his feet, his ear straining for the slightest sign of life.
She can't be dead. Maya can't die in this damn house. No. They have to go home. Tonks, Maya and him. They have to go home. Their families are waiting for them.
"Mom ... Dad ..." Harry can hear his own voice as if coming from afar, while the shadow of death dawn on him. He has never really considered the idea of actually dying while locked in that damn room and now that it is starting to become a possibility, his head feels empty, his body lighter. Can it just end like this? No last greetings? Nothing at all? No heroic gestures?
Have they ever had a chance of getting out alive and victorious? Maybe their plans have been just childish delusions. Maybe Maya was going to be trapped forever with Riddle, maybe Harry was going to be eliminated.
And how was that supposed to happen? Would Riddle just kill him or what? Harry doesn't like the idea of going down without a fight first, after all he does have a wand to help in that sense. Then again… what is the point of resisting it? It's not like he can get out of there alive…not alone against Merlin knew how many Death Eaters. Maybe a quick death is the best choice…?
Maya ... if she really is dead? This can't be… it doesn't make any sense.
Suddenly the walls seems to wrap around him and Harry feels suffocating. The oppressing silence muffles his ears crushing his skull.
Fear. Fear. All he can feel is paralyzing fear.
He won't see his parents again. He won't hug Sirius, Ginny, Ron, Hermione either. He will no longer play Quidditch, feel the wind caress his hair up in the sky, nor sit at the dinner table with his friends and family. His whole life is going to end in here. This is it.
Hours go by as he waits for the inevitable end, as he sits there wondering, crying, hoping to hear Maya's voice from upstairs. Nothing. The house has shut down completely as if everyone just left.
The first sign that something is going on is when the walls of the house start shaking from the roots. Pieces of the ceiling are falling in Harry's hair and on his clothes. He has been stuck in his head so long that he's not sure how long has it been since the shaking has started. It's like a little earthquake and Harry wipes his face with his sleeves looking around in the dim light of his room.
"Maya?" he jumps back on his feet, a large piece of a piece of plaster detaches from the crumbling wall and shatters into a thousand pieces next to his feet. Harry makes a run for his cot and retrieves the wand, his magic crackles loudly running along the small stick, then his ear is back on the door in a gif, his heart back in his throat.
There are explosions coming from upstairs and that smell… that familiar smell… Harry has smelled it in his classes at school, during their duel classes, and then again on the Quidditch field the morning of the kidnapping.
The ferruginous smell of raw magic fills his lungs, that many explosions can only mean that someone is fighting upstairs. Maya and Riddle…?
Harry knows is a matter of time before someone will come for him, either Maya and Tonks, to set him free, or Riddle with his men, to get rid of him.
If I die tonight, I'm going to die a Gryffindor, I'm going to die a Potter. He thinks tightening the grip on the wand. The wooden stick seems reluctant to accept his magic but it's not completely hostile either, he can feel it react rather neutrally to him but it will work, he just knows.
Then everything happens so fast that Harry barely manages to register the order of events.
There's a loud bang and large part of the wall of his room goes to pieces. Everything vanishes in a cloud of dust and Harry's ears are suddenly buzzing and ringing. He staggers to maintain his balance while scanning his brain for any possible spell to defend himself, his mind is completely blank right now. His glasses are full of dust and he lets them slide off his face and onto the floor but his sight doesn't improve the slightest. The ringing in his ears cease and there he can hear it clearly now, a low menacing hiss.
The snake.
Harry takes a few steps back, still blinded by the dust and the lack of glasses.
"This way!" someone is screaming. But it's not Maya, it's not Tonks either. Men. There are men down there. Death Eaters?
"Pettigre ..."
"Avada keda ..."
"Oh fuck! Expelliar ..."
"Confringo!"
"Get the boy, Nagini, don't let them take him!"
"EXPULSO"
A huge explosion sends more dust flying around, Harry coughs unable to breath properly and covers his lips with cupped hands trying to breathe through his nose, which is quite hard given that his heart is pounding in his chest like crazy and anxiety is crushing him. There are lights and noises beyond the hole in the wall but he can't see anything.
The snake's hiss is getting closer and Harry gulps, stretching his ear, hoping to understand what is going out there, trying to focus on the position of things around him.
"HE WILL KILL YOU! HE WILL KNOW! NAGINI, THE BOY!" Pettigrew is screaming so loud that soon only bats will be able to hear him. There are other steps, other lights, so many voices. Harry's heart is about to burst out of his chest.
"Pietrificus"
"Avada-
"Cruc-
"What is he doing?!"
"The mark! Don't let him touch th… OH FUCK!"
"MORSMORDRE!"
"What is that!?"
"AVADAK
"Stupeficium! He's cursing to kill!"
"Sectumsempra!"
"Argh!"
"Black!? Did I get you?"
"Damn, Malfoy! You almost scalped me!"
"You ok?"
"FINE! I'm fine! I have… I have him! Where is the room? I can't see shit. I lost the snake!" Sirius? Harry's heart skips a couple of beats and he releases a breath he didn't know he had been holding in. Is this a dream? His lips are dry and he can't scream as he would like to.
"Do you have Pettigrew?" Harry's jaw drops. He'd recognize that voice anywhere, but it can't be. Can it?
"Affirmative J." Sirius voice comes out strangled, he's obviously fighting to restrain Pettigrew, who's voice comes out muffled, probably by Sirius hands.
And then another hiss, louder than ever, Harry feels the beast snout press against his ankle and kicks it instinctively, the sudden adrenaline rush unlock the muscles of his throat.
"HELP!" it comes out in a strangled whisper still.
"What the fuck has he done with the mark, it's all red and swollen…?"
"They must have alerted Riddle... I wonder if the fucker will show he…"
"HELP!" louder.
"WAIT! Everybody shut up!"
"Help please! IT'S ME! HARRY!" Harry yells as he struggles against the snake who has wrapped around his mid-section locking his arms along his sides in a tight grip taking advantage of Harry's momentary blindness and distraction. The dust around them is settling and slowly shapes are appearing from the hole in the wall.
"WE FOUND HIM!" shouts another familiar voice and Harry feels lighter and lighter, he doesn't know whether to cry, laugh or pass out, none of those seems the to be a smart choice since the snake keeps tightening its grip.
Harry squints at the scene before his eyes and there they are, just like they have been in his dreams.
Sirius Black is bent over a wriggling Pettigrew; he's covered in blood but judging by the look on his face it's not his. Lucius Malfoy is pointing a finger at the hole in the wall, behind him Narcissa Malfoy has her wand pointed at Nagini, her lips are parted but the next spell won't come out, because James Potter, in the flesh, has one hand raised in warning.
"If that thing moves, you'll hit him!"
The snake's large head turns away from Harry, still wriggling wildly to regain the use of his arms with no success but at least he is still holding on to the wand, despite the blood has now stopped streaming to his fingers. The beast gives its full attention to the intruders, its fangs appear in the dim light and an ominous hiss fills the silence. Nagini, wrapped around the boy, stands frighteningly between Harry and his family now, in all its monstrosity.
"DAD!" More than a cry, a roar. Harry can't believe his eyes. He has never been happier to see his father.
"Harry don't move!" James is tense as he steps closer to the hole. The snake hisses furiously then swings its head threatening to attack.
Harry manages to pull his wand-hand out of the snake's grip, but Nagini suddenly snaps its head back at him and he instinctively closes his eyes and throws his head back, trying to put some distance between himself and those fangs, but the bite doesn't come.
The snake seems to be struggling on what to do next.
"NAGINI NO! DON'T TOUCH THE BOY! KILL THEM, Kill mfmf…" Pettigrew yells vanishes in Sirius hand again but now everyone is staring at the rat faced man, why would he order not to injure Harry?
Taking advantage of everyone's distraction, Nagini leaves Harry and launches toward James.
"DAD NO!"
"What? Why did you order not... JAMES!"
"Reducto!" The snake crashes into the wall, its angry hiss makes Harry shiver, James' eyes dart to the wand Harry is still pointing at the snake, his lips parts in awe for a moment but then the man seems to decide that this is not the right time for questions.
"Avada Kedavra." Lucius breaks the silence with a practical tone and the beast immediately falls back on the floor, dead this time.
"My master will, he will come, my master will kill, my master… the boy can't leave here! He can't!"
"Would you shut. The. Fuck. Up." Harry can hear the punches smashing into Pettigrew's face, Sirius must have gotten tired of struggling to keep his mouth shut.
"My mastr… he knows…" the words fade in a gurgle and Harry is able to focus on the man approaching the perimeter once defined by the walls of his room.
"Dad? Is it really… Dad?" His voice is slowly morphing in the cry that he has been trying to repress.
"Harry? Are you ok? Did it hurt you?" Harry shakes his head no.
"Dad I can't get out… the room is…"
"It's ok, my boy, it's ok." Harry's eyes widens slightly when James throws his leg over the remains of the wall and steps in. Nothing happens.
"Harry it's ok, come here, Dad's here, Harry." Then Harry's face is buried in his father's shirt and for a blisfull moment nothing matters anymore, because he's home, he's safe. His heart becomes so light that he feels like fainting and grips to his dad's shoulders for dear life.
"Dad how… is the spell broken? How… since when?" Harry's relief is suddenly pushed away by the ominous feeling. Has his door been unlocked all along? He could've helped Maya… MAYA?! The screams!
"I… Maya… Where is Maya? Tonks?" A new rush of panic makes him pull away from his father's hug. James ignores his questions.
"I'msorryHarryOhMerlinHarryI'msosorryMyboy" he keeps mumbling the words, inspecting his shoulders and hands for injuries, then he finally takes a step back and brushes the scar on the boy's forehead, a deep frown appears between his eyes.
"What did they do to you…?" he whispers silencing a sob. Harry shakes his head and take another step back from James.
"Accio Glasses… scourgify…"
"Harry where did you get that wand?"
"WHY DID YOU ORDER THE SNAKE NOT TO ATTACK HARRY?!" Sirius is now screaming in the background, shaking Pettigrew like a rag doll.
"Maybe if you get off of him… he has lost loads of blood, Black."
"Shut up, Malfoy… I've seen worse! How's the boy?"
"Dad, Maya, where is Maya? Since when was my door... unlocked?" Harry feels like screaming, he could have done something... he could have gotten out, helped her. His heart is about to implode.
"How's the boy?" Narcissa Malfoy is next to James now, Harry is growing so anxious that he barely manages not to growl at her for interrupting again, her eyes fall on the wand and she frowns slightly.
"She gave it to me… I'm just borrowing it. Where is Maya?" Says Harry.
An explosion from upstairs makes the whole room rumble and the dust is back on Harry's glasses but he doesn't take his eyes away from his father's ones.
"Dad, I'm fine, really. Maya, Tonks?" begs Harry, then nods toward the corridor outside, where Malfoy and Black are arguing over a crying Pettigrew, "Where is Maya? I've heard screaming and… what is happening upstairs?"
"Harry, we haven't found Maya, Riddle had already left when we got here tonight." Says James leading the way outside. Harry climbs over the snake's tail, his legs are still wobbly but he manages to follow his dad, "Tonks was late with her reports and we decided we'd come and check if everything was still on track. We were hoping Riddle would have given us enough time to retrieve Grindelwald from Germany… but apparently he has moved faster.".
"There were supposed to be Aurors on the outside, yes, the house was under surveillance." Sirius resumes where James has stopped, tossing a now petrified and profusely bleeding Pettigrew at Lucius' feet to walk towards Harry, "We came but... we found bodies… just bodies. Riddle has killed all of our sentries. We stormed inside the house before we even had a plan, there was group of Death Eaters in the middle of a move, they were trying to destroy some documents and escape... Riddle was nowhere to be seen. The reports we were receiving were forged by them..." Sirius stops to wipe away some blood from his face, then pats on Harry's shoulder murmuring something about how good it is to see him again, his eyes are shiny and Harry feels his stomach clench tight, Sirius is not usually the sentimental type.
"He has left… with Maya? What about Tonks? Why hasn't she stopped him?! Is she with them?" Harry's lips dry completely and he has to push the word out of his knotted throat, part of him somehow, already know the answer to that. When Sirius shakes his head no it feels like his blood needs a moment more to start flowing again in his veins.
"Tonks didn't make it, Harry. She was found out and... and killed with the others. He probably caught her as she was unlocking your door." Sirius gives a sorry look in the Malfoy's direction; they both purse their lips and divert their eyes.
Another explosion covers Harry's sobs he feels weak in the legs but both Sirius and James get ahold of him before he can crash to the ground. Tonks is dead. His door was unlocked and he hasn't been able to do anything.
"I could have... helped... I... I didn't know if... dad!" the tears starts streaming down his face.
"Don't you dare, Harry. You did what you were supposed to. It's not... hey! Look at me, look at me. You did nothing wrong. It is not your fault."
Harry nods reluctantly to his dad's worried expression.
More explosions and people screaming.
"What is happening...?"
"Laurent's father had French authorities ready to step in even before we got down here. We finally have all the elements to arrest him officially, Harry. We're arresting them all upstairs, the world is already being alerted about Riddle, soon all authorities will be hunting him down. We have a general idea of where he is right now, we have people there, mom is there Harry." Sirius smiles vaguely.
"We have to get you out of here, this is too much for him." Says James, glaring at Sirius now.
"Take him home." Says Lucius Malfoy. Harry feels his father nod and shakes his head no, desperately trying to stand on his own.
"They left…" Harry says, "He left with Maya!"
"Harry it's ok, we'll handle it now, let's get you to St Mungo now." James pulls him closer and Harry knows they're about to apparate and he can't, not yet. His brain is working too slow and everyone else is acting too fast; he manages to push his hand on his father's chest and take a step back.
Everyone is now looking at him, he rubs his face and combs his hair back and away from his eyes.
"They have left, Dad." Harry is overwhelmed by the whole situation but tries to keep it together a bit longer, ignoring the part of him that wants to just have his father take him home and put an end to that nightmare.
"He left with Maya… Pettigrew didn't want me to leave… Maya must have struck a deal for me!" The others stare at Harry, still not on to why the boy is suddenly so excited.
"The plan… Maya's plan may still be feasible! There is a chance, Dad! There's something we need to do!"
"Harry we need to get you out of here."
"I know but, dad, if he's out there with Maya we should at least make him mortal again! There is something we need to find; it might still be upstairs!"
"The Horcrux." Whispers Lucius, Harry nods, his legs seem to regain the necessary strength, the adrenaline begins to flow in his veins and before anyone can add anything else, Harry takes off, leading the way upstairs.
"I don't know if he took more from you or Lily ... but he will be a hell of a Auror..." snickers Sirius nudging James in the ribs, the second later he blazes in front of him in the form of a large black dog, Harry can't help but laugh.
"Il était une fois trois frères qui voyageaient au crépuscule, le long d'une route tortueuse et solitaire. Après avoir longtemps cheminé, ils atteignirent une rivière trop profonde pour la traverser à gué et trop dangereuse pour la franchir à la nage."
[There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across].
"Quel était le nom de la rivière, Draco?" [What was the name of the river, Draco?]
"Pfff! Maya, la ferme ou j'arrête de lire!" [Pfff! Maya, shut up or I'll stop reading.]
"Oh! Non, continuez!" [Oh no! Keep going!]
He has picked at a hangnail on his ring finger, the nail outline is dark and filled with dry blood. The skin around it is slightly swollen but he won't let Maya take care of it, or anyone else.
"Only a Muggle would wait around for it to heal." Had said Lucius early that afternoon when Draco had refused his mother to heal the silly cut.
"If a Muggle can survive it, so can I." Draco's explanation had been simple, although Maya had been quite sure this hadn't been his own idea. Maybe something had happened in school, maybe he was trying to prove something to someone.
Lucius had just snorted before storming out of the room, refusing to assist to 'a Malfoy playing the muggle'.
Maya and Draco had fled the living room soon after, before Lucius could change his mind. They had found refuge in the large upstairs library, where they are still nestled under one of the large windows.
Draco's lips are curled in annoyance, he has lost the line he was reading and knows Maya is staring, the finger must sting like a bitch but he won't admit it. She doesn't say anything about it, he's such a hard-headed boy when he wants, and she is quite glad that he has let her come along and doesn't want him to have second thoughts.
Maya can't look away as his lips part slightly, her eyes widen when his do, as he finds the line and resumes the reading. Each of his expression is a miracle to her. The butterflies in her belly are swirling her insides. Draco rarely lets her this close of his own accord and Maya's head goes back to rest on his shoulder, her eyes are stolen by the drawings moving around the book, but her heart is racing, still very conscious of the proximity of his warm body against hers.
"Les trois frères, cependant, connaissaient bien l'art de la magie. Aussi, d'un simple mouvement de baguette, ils firent apparaître un pont qui enjambait les eaux redoutables de la rivière. Ils…"
[However, the three brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They…]
"I said stop walking!" Reality pulls her back to her senses. Maya stops in her tracks. Her feet sink in the muddy soft ground of the forest and she's not in the library anymore. Draco's smell is somehow lingering around her.
How long have they walked? Her eyes land on the fortress. Almost there. Almost there. She's not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing. What will happen next? Did anyone manage to get Gellert out? What will happen when they get there? Is the Order waiting for them there? Why aren't they coming for her now?
It sucks not to have a clear plan anymore. To just be a pawn in the game. Not the queen anymore. Was she ever in control anyway? She doubts it now.
Maya's brain and body are completely worn out from the previous night. Flashes of the curses, of Tonks and her suffering expression, the broken bones and then all the walking in the cold. She hasn't been able to sleep a notch in Riddle's tent. His eyes have been on her the whole night, viciously studying her, savoring something… what exactly, she hadn't wanted to know.
Maya is tired. So tired. Her legs are heavy and slow. She is quite sure this isn't going to end well; she has no control whatsoever and even Gellert has vanished from her head.
I'm alone. Alone. He'll kill Gellert, I'll be a horcrux… this is over. I'm alone.
It hurts, everything hurts. She is freezing and can barely feel her hands, her head is about to explode, she could use some more Skele-Gro for her ribs are killing her… and why won't her warming charm work? Her teeth are rattling.
Maya glances over her shoulder, Riddle is glaring at her, he doesn't look much better then she does but at least he's properly dressed for that weather.
The girl cranes her neck slightly to get a glimpse at Snape in the background. Something seems to be wrong with him, he's crouching on the ground, but she can't see the man's face, as Riddle is standing right between them, but he must be the reason they have stopped.
Riddle is still glaring at her, obviously waiting for the sign that she is not going to start walking again. "I'm not moving, am I?" she snaps, he growls something and finally turns toward Snape, who's holding to his left forearm with the right one. Maya knows she should focus on what is going on but she is more concerned with her inability to produce the simplest of spells right now.
She stares at her own hands. The tips of her fingers are blue. Hot-air charm? Nothing.
The heart rate is going up.
She's confused, this has never happened before… on the other hand, she has never been this mentally and physically tired and broken before.
Où est ma magie? [Where is my magic?]
"Calm down! I said calm down! Severus, don't… what is going on?" Riddle tries, but Snape man keeps vomiting words, non-sensical half-sentences, a flood that Maya can't really decipher distracted as she is by her other, more pushing, matter.
"Accio rock." She whispers. Nothing moves. A little shriek escapes her but Riddle seems to be too distracted by Snape to care.
"What do you mean someone is in the house?" Maya almost snaps her neck in the rush to turn back towards the two men. Riddle is holding Snape's arm upward, staring at it apparently. The dark mark? What is wrong with it?
"I'M TELLING YOU! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" Snape's sudden screaming startle her and she gasps. Riddle stands back up.
Maya feels naked and exposed without her magic, she feels weak with all of her aches and half-healed bones and she instinctively flattens herself against the bark of a large tree. If these two are about to fight, she's not going to get in between them.
"Going back is not an option, especially now! Just shut up about the… other matter." Snaps Tom.
He glances at her briefly from over his shoulder and goes back to focus on Snape, a warning expression on his face now.
Rage is surging through Tom, it's scary how he's barely able to contain his magic lately, Maya can hear it crackle, it's not overwhelming but it's still scary since she can't seem to feel her own magic right now.
"We have to go back, now." Snape speaks through clenched teeth, one of his pale long hands tightens on the hem of Tom's cloak.
"Well we can't exactly apparate inside a house filled with Death Eaters, with a kidnapped boy in the basement, with evidences of all kind of crimes, if there's truly someone in there, can we?"
"What?" No one even acknowledges Maya's existence.
"Tom, listen to me, it won't… it won't go well! No, no listen…"
"I said, shut up."
"I said listen! We, we have to check… Tom, the Vow!"
"SHUT UP!" his voice thunders loud, echoing through the trees, "I told you to shut up about it!".
"What is going on? What about the Vow?!" maybe… there's still hope? Maya forgets about safety and leaves her tree attempting a couple steps toward them.
"Shit!" When Tom turns to warn her not to take another step his face is a mask of so many emotions that Maya's words get stuck in her throat.
He's tired, he's scared, he's desperate but above all, right now, he's furious. His eyes are sparkling all the shades of red, from dark to bright ruby. Something is wrong with him, all of his features are morphing, he's the ghost of the pale handsome man he has been. He's the ghost of the human being he was.
His complexion is not the color of porcelain anymore but some plaster grey color, his veins are clearly visible underneath the thin skin. The dark circles around his eyes seem to have grown impossibly deep and are now pitch black holes surrounding those burning bloody eyes of his. He looks more like the monster he has turned himself into, and Maya shivers at the sight.
"Maya, just. Stay. There." He hisses like a snake.
"What happened at the house?" she whispers unable to hold his glare and focusing on a random spot under his chin instead.
"MAYA I'M WARNING YOU…"
"JUST KILL THE GIRL ALREADY!" the scream echoes through the wood and Maya's jaw drop. Snape is as white as a sheet. His finger pointed at her. A dense silence envelopes them, then finally Tom takes a step toward her and she takes one back.
"He… you can't. He can't! We made a Vow… the… it's unbreakable! I'm… I'm taking you there! You can't hurt me anymore, you promised, you vowed!"
"I won't, yes we made a VOW" Tom stresses the word glaring at Snape now, "Don't listen to Severus, he's tired, we're almost there, everything is fine back at the…"
Snape moves fast, too fast both for Maya and Tom to react. Before Tom can even think of pulling out his wand, Snape is already too close. Maya lets out a guttural sound when he grabs her recently-broken arm with all his strength and pulls, yanking her forward and closer to him. Something crackles loudly and Maya almost blacks out on the spot for the pain is so intense.
"See? It's broken!" yells Snape, madness dripping from his eyes.
"Don't you dare curse her! You don't know what the consequences might be!"
They shouldn't be able to hurt me and survive it… Maya's brain is fogged by pain right now and she can't think straight but still. They shouldn't be able to hurt her!
Her struggle against Snape is ridiculously weak, all the aches of the previous night are coming back to her in an orchestra of deafening pain. Unable to inflict major damages, afraid that her magic could just slip out all of a sudden breaking the Vow and killing her, Maya desperately sinks her nails where Snape's mark is, hoping to inflict enough pain for the man to at least ease his fierce grip on her broken arm.
"IT'S BROKEN!" He keeps yelling and Maya doesn't understand what is going on. Yes it is broken, most possibly, her arm is broken, he is the one doing a great job in breaking it into teeny-weeny pieces.
"LET HER GO!" Tom's voice seems to come from far, far away. Maya meets Snape's eyes and she knows what will happen the second he parts his lips to speak.
"No" her prayer comes out as a sigh of resignation more than a real word.
"Crucio".
"Ce fut seulement lorsqu'il eut atteint un grand âge que le plus jeune des trois frères enleva sa Cape d'Invisibilité et la donna à son fils. Puis il accueillit la mort comme une vieille amie qu'il suivit avec joie et, tels des égaux, ils quittèrent ensemble cette vie.".
[It was only when he was old that the youngest of the three brothers took off his Invisibility Cloak and gave it to his son. Then he welcomed death as an old friend whom he followed with joy and, like equals, they left this life together.]
"Je me demande si nous les collecterons vraiment tous." [I wonder if we will really collect them all.]
"Who knows." English? Maya looks up, Draco is studying her face, there's something weird in the way he's looking at her and she blushes a little.
"Thanks for reading zat to me."
"That."
"That."
"Better. You're welcome."
He isn't usually this nice. She raises an eyebrow in a puzzled expression but he just stares at her and it's getting so warm in there. His eyes flicker somewhere on her chin and back to hold her gaze. The light from the wide window behind him is making his hair sparkle all the shades of white and gold and there's a thousand dust particles dancing around his face, but still, his every detail is so sharp and clear and Maya's heart squeezes impossibly tight.
Lately it's been just impossible for her. He makes her feel like crying and laughing, extremely sad and on impossibly happy altogether. Having him close is never remotely enough, yet Maya feels like it's just too much for her to handle at the same time.
He smirks at the sight of her cheeks, Maya diverts her eyes brushing her face, not surprised to find that she's flaming hot. He was supposed to make some snarky comments and leave, but he's still there, holding her hostage of that sly expression of his.
"Your finger is still bleeding. Are you sure we shouldn't just fix it. I can…"
"It's ok. I'll survive. It's nothing." Maya smiles, but when she looks up, his gaze is deeper than it has ever been and the words die on her lips. His injured finger raises and he uses it to tilt her head back a little.
"If you insist though..." He orders, "Kiss it. That will do."
Maya blushes a deeper shade of red but does as he asks without ever taking her eyes off of his. Draco's lips part slightly in wonder and surprise, made brave by that unusual reaction, Maya presses her lips on the next finger too, and another one after that until he seems to shake out of a trance and removes his hand.
Before she can protest, his lips replace his fingers and they press warm and dry against hers. His tongue slides in in her mouth without asking for permission, demanding, needy, selfish. She wonders if he can tell how dry her mouth has become right now. She wonders if he can hear her heart thumping loudly, or if it's just in her ears.
If he can, he doesn't seem to care. Draco takes his time, exploring her lips and mouth, biting and licking the sore spots he's leaving. Maya moans softly breaking the wet silence and the kiss breaks as well.
His eyes are wide and his chest is rising and falling quickly under the palm of her hand. Maya's cheeks are flaming hot but she doesn't dare breaking eye contact. The taste of him is sweet and warm and so familiar, yet this is not how they have kissed before. This is not a kiss between children, is it?
"Tu… m'as embrassé" [You… kissed me.] It blurts out, and it sounds even stupider out loud but it's all her brain can manage right now.
"It's ok. You'll survive…" He says jumping back to his feet as if nothing happened, or maybe he's just as nervous about that kiss? Maybe he has noticed how it had been different as well.
Maya doesn't say anything, she stares as he puts the book back on the right shelf and strolls out of the library. She hopes he's right though, she hopes she'll survive, because her heart is on the verge of having a stroke and she truly wishes to live long enough to do that again.
Her eyes snap open and the world is pain. Electric pain, surging through her every nerve and through every muscle.
Snape is sitting on the ground next to her, Tom's feet are in Maya's field of vision, and he seems to be very much alive, she can hear him breathe hard. Didn't he just break part of their Vow?
"See… you're alive!" is saying Snape, "She's alive as well."
"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT!" snaps Riddle. Maya struggles to sit up. What has just happened?
"Just lower your wand, Tom."
"You could've killed me!"
"Well no, technically I couldn't have, right?" sarcasm in Snape's voice. Maya finally looks up, her brain is burning, her skin feels extremely hot and impossibly cold altogether. The ghost of Draco's lips on hers is slowly fading away.
Tom is pale, paler than he's ever been, one of his hands in gripping his heart, the other pointing the wand at Snape.
"You… you should be dead." Maya frowns at Riddle and he lets himself look back at her, licking his dry lips for a moment, but whatever lie he is trying to make up gets interrupted by Snape.
"Now you know that the Vow is broken!"
"Isn't one of us supposed to die?" asks Maya, her body is yelling with each movement she's making to stand back on her feet.
"Shut up, both of you."
"You shut…" but Maya bites her lips when the wand is pointed to her face and she glares at Tom when he smirks a little at her reaction. Fucking psychopath.
"How could you be so sure it was broken… I mean it's unbreakable isn't it?" he asks.
"That's what I meant when I told you to choose your words carefully Tom… but you always have to have your way, don't you? What where the terms of the Vow, Tom?" Tom doesn't answer, his eyebrows are drawn together and he keeps pointing his eyes at Snape and his wand at Maya.
"I would have helped you get to Grindelwald. I would have not left your side and pledged my loyalty to you. Renounced to my wand until you deemed it proper and not harmed your followers." She mutters frowning at the two adults.
"In exchange for the boy's freedom once we were done." finishes Riddle, the expression of who is just now getting to the obvious answer.
"Well… we have no boy to give freedom to anymore, have we? And by the way, this is why you don't go making Unbreakable Vows for stupid shit like this… an Imperio curse would have been enough! And safer and…
"But how were you so sure we didn't have the boy anymore… I haven't received any fucking Patronus! Your mark ached! It could have meant ANYTHING!"
There is a moment of silence where both Maya and Snape stare at Tom then he frowns slightly.
" You didn't know. You took the risk…" His words barely a hush.
"And so what? You're immortal anyway, I could have brought you back!" Snape snaps after a while, "If they have the boy and are in the house, Tom, we MUST go back!"
"Is Harry safe?!" But Maya's words are completely ignored, she stands there, her left arm clutching to her right one, it must have broken again because it hurts like hell and it seems swollen.
"You're just trying and sabotage me." Tom's wand leaves Maya for Snape, who has just collected his own from the ground. Tom must have disarmed him while Maya was being hexed.
Maya feels her pulse accelerate. She glances at the fortress. Maybe she can still make it, maybe she can get to her grandfather in time… maybe he'll heal her. Maybe she can ask for help to the wardens. The vow is broken, she could even curse both men and run away… but her magic. Again she summons her energy and can't feel it.
Guess I'll play the Muggle.
It's ok. I'll survive. It's nothing.
"Sabotag… after all I've done for you? You… you are out of your mind."
"Shut up! You didn't want to come in the first place. You've been trying to hold me back since after the horcrux… so WHAT if they have the boy? What if they find the Horcrux? They still would have to figure out what it is, and how to destroy it! And still… How is that affecting you? I'm about to become the strongest wizard in the world and you worry… about what? Prison? I'll make those idiots bow to me… and you… you just don't see the bigger picture!"
"TOM IF THE VOW IS BROKEN…
"WHAT IF?! It's still two adult and armed wizards against a fifteen years old without a wand, in the woods! WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM?"
"YOU'RE A FOOL IF YOU THINK YOU'LL LIVE TO SEE THE END OF THIS MAD PLAN OF YOURS! She won't hesitate to betray you the second we step into Grindelwald's cell!"
Maya is still considering her options, her eyes are travelling from one man to the other, she's breathing slowly, collecting the energy to make a sprint for the woods as soon as the right occasion presents itself. Maybe she can make it… maybe she can run for it and dodge their spells. But as weak as she is, this is too much of a risk.
"Tom…" Snape sounds truly tired now, he rubs the bridge of his nose under Tom's glare, trying to calm down. "Why are we even here? You're not a 100% sure the spell will work. We don't have any more time to waste. Let's just kill the girl… let's try and perform the spell, get you back in shape, and go back. We can still get the horcrux back and… you'll still be powerful and immortal and… we might be able to obliviate whoever is in the house and save the face."
"I thought you were different, Severus. I thought you'd understand... but you are like everyone else. A small man, with small ambitions. And I have no respect or patience for those like you."
"Small ambitions…" he snorts "Truth is that nothing will ever be enough for you, Tom, will it? You HAD to be Ministry, you HAD to rip a piece of your soul, you HAD to have Laurent, and now Grindelwald, and if I told you that the Deathly Hollows existed, you'd go mad to find them all, it will never end! You'll never be satisfied!"
Maya's eyes widen at the choice of metaphor.
"OF COURSE I WOULD! ONLY A FOOL WOULD STOP! I CAN RISE ON TOP OF THE WORLD!"
"AND WHO'S GOING TO STAND BY YOU?"
"I DON'T CARE! I DON'T NEED ANYONE!"
They are both panting, their foreheads almost touch, Riddle is drooling rage. Any second. They'll hit any second now.
"They're calling for help. But if you don't care about your own alleys, I guess we shouldn't care about you either. I'm going back.".
"You're not going anyw…"
EXPELLIARMUS.
Red lights emerge from the trees and both Tom and Snape turn, ones back against the other's. Maya looks around with wide eyes and then they appear and she feels almost lightheaded at the sight of the trio walking towards them.
"Don't even think about it." A woman hisses when Tom moves toward his wand, she's glaring at Tom so hard that Maya is surprised his face isn't burning by now. He snickers at her.
"Your boy is not here, Mrs. Potter." He's stupidly smug considering he doesn't have a wand right now and has three more pointed at him.
"I know damn right where my boy is. I'm here for the girl."
"I told you they had him." Mutters Snape.
"Laurent!" Maya turns to see Granger running toward her, is this a dream? Tears starts rolling on her cheeks and her jaw drops at the sight.
Help. I have help. I have friends.
"G…" it's all she can let out and then a guttural sound when Granger hugs her hitting her right on the broken arm. But Maya doesn't care, she sinks in the girl's wild hair. She's not alone.
"We're here, we're here! Draco is here too! He is very close! We're here!"
I'm not alone. I'm safe. I'm strong.
There is a moment of silence that seems to last an eternity and then it is complete chaos.
Riddle quickly puts a hand in his pocket to extract what should have been Maya's wand, but he finds himself pointing a jar of Dittany at Lily Potter. Maya's little trafiguration must have come undone a while ago, but Riddle hadn't bothered to check her wand twice.
It takes him a moment to realize what's going on, or at least part of what is going on, when he does, Riddle's features deform in such a frightening fury that even Lily hesitates a moment too long.
"SNAPE, THE GIRL! TAKE HER!"
At the same time more things happen. Snape launches forward attempting to snatch the wand from Ronald Weasley's hands, Lily throws a hex but misses the target, while Snape hits his own.
"RUN!" yells Lily as she starts dueling with Snape, "MAYA RUN! WE HAVE HARRY! HARRY IS SAFE!" In the confusion Tom throws himself on his wand, an ice wall rises instantly between him and the other fighters, then he turns in the direction in which Maya and Granger are still hugging, kneeling on the ground.
It is in that instant that Maya feels it. At first a shy warmth that rises from the mud in her legs, then warmer, the magic flows in every cell, in every nerve, and the world around her slows down.
I'm not alone. I have help. I'm loved.
Maya's good arm is still around Granger's shoulders, she pulls the girl closer to herself, and with an immense effort, raises her broken arm toward Riddle. Powerful, precise her magic doesn't fail her this time, flowing out of her and bringing along all of the pain that monster has inflicted to her.
Riddle screams a counter-curse of some sort but Maya glares at him.
The next spell is too strong for her weak body and before Maya can see her curse hitting Riddle, she is thrown back by the power of her own magic and the next thing she knows is that she and Granger are tumbling on a hard floor and that both Riddle and the battle between Lily, Weasley and Snape suddenly have vanished into thin air, while the contour of a huge grey building is now the only landscape.
Draco bounces on the rubbles and lands on his knees. The room continues to spin for a few moments until he can refocus on the destroyed furniture and pieces of wall. He gags and leans slightly forward but before he can even think of taking a moment to vomit, his armed hand pops up and he moans in protest.
"Gellert, we don't have time for this nonsense!" Dumbledore shouts from the end of the corridor. Gellert snorts in response.
"We do have time." Draco feels the alien magic build up in the bottom of his stomach and the feeling of nausea increases, then the next attack is launched and the sensation seems to fade momentarily, to leave room for horror when a huge beast that seems to be made of ... blood , lashes out at the Headmaster.
The creature is absorbed by some sort of hole that suddenly rips the room in two and Gellert laughs at the sight.
"You are boring, old man." he spits out the words and seems quite amused by the situation in general. Draco cannot push away the feeling that those two are having fun after all, perhaps this had always been their relationship. Perhaps they took their high from the mental challenge that the other proposed. But right now they didn't have time for this. Maya was out there. Wounded and alone.
"Can we end this madness?" Draco asks, but neither of them answers.
"Gellert get out of his head. He's tired and this… is just too much." Dumbledore seems more exasperated than actually worried, which is weird but at the moment Draco is distracted by the feeling growing inside of him and slowly moving under his skin. It is unpleasant, to say the least, and it makes him sick in his stomach. Maya has been in his head before, but it has never been so intense.
"Oh he is tired! He can't take it anymore. Poor thing! I forkot that you zelf-proclaimed yourzelf educator and pedagogue of all mein offspring. You forkot that no matter how much you want to play daddy, Leonie was MEIN daughter. Maya is MEIN granddaughter and THIS IS MEIN FAMILY!"
"Well, where were you when YOUR daughter needed you? When Greta needed you?"
"I'll have you know, I vas locked in here and it vas YOUR fault!"
Draco tries to intervene but before he can say a single word, Gellert's rage explodes again.
"Urbem Concitant".
"Fuck!" yells Draco as the room starts rotating on itself for the fourth time. His left shoulder hits a cabinet, plummeting down from one of the walls and he cusses even louder as he tries to keep up with the floor, slowly turning into the ceiling, while the pain blinds him momentarily. Gellert is laughing somewhere behind him, Dumbledore is nowhere to be seen but finally his voice thunders in the room.
"Erigens"
The room is suddenly back to normal, but Draco's head is spinning so hard he leans against the same cabinet that hurt him earlier and throws up. Finally. It's almost a relief.
"Get him out of your head, boy."
"I'M TRYING!"
"So this is it? Is this all you can do? This is what vu'fe taught him? OH VAT A GREAT FATHER FIGURE YOU ARE!" Gellert laughs in mockery, he takes off an invisible hat and bows at Dumbledore.
"Gellert this is not the time…"
"This is exactly the right time. The only time, infakt!" Screams Gellert, "So let's see, you bothered to intrude on mein little family... you raized Leonie, and you made her into a mess... a drunk, depressed and completely uzeless woman, married to some desperate collector of freaks."
"Gellert!" Dumbledore warns, but Gellert smirks at him and resumes.
"You were not done yet, vere you? No. Still had to ruin my whole descendance for you vere so miserably mad at me."
"I was't..."
"YOU suggested she'd accept the Malfoys betrothal; Maya couldn't even walk at the time, for Merlin sake! And, not happy, as soon as you could… you took Draco in your school… look at him… no offence boy, but he can't effen keep me out of his head."
"What?" Draco doesn't really get the details of what he is talking about but is now hanging from his lips.
"Me, on the other hand" laughs Gellert, "I only trained Maya… and it just so happens that she could crush both of you with a snap of her fingers!"
"You can't judge others according to a scale of values you've set yourself! Not everyone is as absessive and power thirsty as you are, thank Merlin!" yells Dumbledore, but again Grindelwald ignores him.
"YET I AM THE BAD AT FATHERING? Maya is a success! And her only flaw is that she has a soft spot for someone who won't be able to defend himself, SOMEONE YOU HAFEN'T WANTED TO PROPERLY TRAIN!"
Draco bites his lips and tries to focus again, but the power of the old man won't leave him free and he feels like his body is too crowded for them both. He grits his teeth and clenches his fists, he wants to prove Gellert wrong, he wants to, but deep inside, he does feel inadequate for her. He always has. Plus he does feel that hadn't she been distracted by him, hadn't she been worried about him, Riddle would never have managed to kidnap Maya in the first place.
"GET HIM OUT OF YOUR HEAD, BOY." Yells Dumbledore. Draco blinks a couple times, his face is wet, he's crying in the middle of the room and can't seem to stop and focus, not with Grindelwald nestled in his head, not when the room keeps shifting, burning, freezing, twisting, getting flooded by all kinds of fluids.
"Weggeblasen" [blown away] a strong wind starts blowing in the room, it's coming out of his own wand but it's not sparing him from the consequences of the spell, ad he is back on his knees in a matter of seconds.
"Professor… help!" He yells trying to get his voice through the heavy gusts of wind.
"GET HIM OUT!" Dumbledore is yelling, the wind is blowing, everything is a mess and Draco can't focus.
"Sors-moi de ta tête." [Get me out of your head.] Hisses the voice of Gellert, it feels so close that Draco shrugs to shake him off his shoulders, but the man hasn't moved from where he has been standing, on the other side of the wide hall, Draco can see him through the flying pieces of furniture and papers.
GetoutgetoutGETOUT.
A piece of paper hits him right in the face blinding him, the gusts of wind are getting so violent now that Draco can feel the air cutting through his skin like a blade. He yells but his voice is swallowed by the uproar around him.
"Finite Incantatem" yells Dumbledore, "WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS".
"This, believe it or not, will be the only chance I have to make right to your wrongs!" Yells Grindelwald, Draco feels his wand hand raise again and he tries to push it down with the other, desperate for a truce.
"Stop!" he begs.
"You're not even trying."
"He's tired, you're going to kill him!"
"If he dies, he wasn't remotely good enough then!"
"Gellert, we need to get out, now! You will regret this! She won't understand it!"
"SHE WILL! She always listens to me! She's a good kid and she needs to toughen up!"
"She won't! She doesn't see love the way you do, and I know that it kills you that they took this trait from me and Greta, by why in the name of Salazar, did you even love us with your twisted love, if you hated how love made us in the first place!?"
"You wanted her weak, you wanted them to be weak and stupid. You wanted them to be distracted so that they wouldn't follow into my steps! Was this your revenge? WHAT. HAVE. I. EVER. DONE. TO. YOU. OTHER. THAN. PROTECT. YOU?" With each word an unknown spell flies at Dumbledore, who somehow manages to dodge them all.
"I have done nothing but the good of your family, they wouldn't have followed in your steps anyway, look where your steps brought you!?" Gellert snorts rolling his eyes and ignoring Draco when he asks them to just stop.
Dumbledore continues however, approaching a few steps in the direction of Draco, who wishes he would step away instead, since he's unable to control his wand and can feel the next hit charging.
"I gave them a family! I gave them someone who would love and protect them! Your granddaughter was perfectly fine before you decided to ruin her life, getting weird ideas into her head!"
"HOW WAS SHE FINE, LOCKED IN A HOUSE FOR YEARS? She had my blood in her veins, for Merlin's sake! You led her to make the same mistakes I made! LOVE! LOVE SLOWS YOU DOWN!"
"Well if you wanted a say in it, you shouldn't have pursued a career as an international criminal! You had no right to get into the head of that girl, you have no right get into Draco's. This boy, he is her family more than you will ever be! You've set her on a suicidal mission, what a great fatherly figure YOU ARE!" For a silly moment Draco feels like Dumbledore is refraining from taking off his imaginary hat too. "She has a family that loves her! DRACO AND HER FAMILY ARE NOT HER WEAK POINTS! THEY ARE HER STRENGHT! HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE IT?" Dumbledore has to catch up with his breath, Grindelwald is looking at him with pursed lips and it takes him a moment to say something.
"FINE" He snaps, "She can keep him," The veins in Grindelwald's neck are throbbing, "IF he proves he is worthy.".
Draco can feel it again, the building up thing at the pit of his stomach, he gags in reflex and glances at his wand, he can see his hand wrapped around it and shaking but can't move it.
"Who cares about this stupid love rants? MAYA NEEDS ME, LET GO OF ME!" Draco yells on top of his lungs.
"Get out of his head!"
"Oh no, he is so strong, he can kick me out himself, OR ELSE! Urbem Concitant!"
"Not again!" Draco starts running just in time to dodge a huge shelf from crushing him as the room begins spinning again.
"He doesn't even love her, do you boy?"
"Draco, for Merlin sake, focus!"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but the room is fucking spinning!"
Hol mich raus, Draco. [get me out, Draco]
What are you doing? Maya needs me!
Maya braucht dich... Du bist gerade nicht viel. HOL. MICH. RAUS. LETZTE WARNUNG, JUNGE. [Maya needs you… you're not much right now. GET. ME. OUT. LAST WARNING, BOY.]
She needs me.
Oh… But don't you remember how annoying she was? How you wanted to be free... how they made you do it.
She is my strength… my strength.
Draco keeps running for his dear life but his mind is being violated and it gets increasingly hard to keep up with the spinning room and Gellert scavenging his mind.
Maya pestring him with her toys.
Maya following him around.
He is being cursed... Lucius is cursing him and it's her fault. Her fault.
YOU HATED HER.
"WE WERE CHILDREN!" He yells it out loud without even noticing.
"Don't let him get to you!" yells Dumbledore.
COME ON BOY, GET ME OUT OF YOUR HEAD ALREADY!
Grindelwald growls as Dumbledore intervenes once more to stop the room from spinning.
But it's too late anyway, Draco sees it. It's weird and it's hard to unsee. He's not sure if he can actually see him or if it's more of a feeling, it's a strange middle ground. Draco can 'see' Grindelwald magic, he can sense it inside of his head and now that he can see its outline it feels easier to push it away from himself, and so he does.
"HA!" Grindelwald stops with wide eyes, his lips curl in a smirk, Dumbledore arches is eyebrows in a surprised expression.
Draco grits his teeth pushing the alien magic, but his hand raises again and points at Dumbledore as he struggles.
"Come on, boy!" Yells Dumbledore lowering his wand, Draco holds Gellert's glare, those uneven eyes cutting through his, he can see they look nothing like Maya's now.
Maya. Of course I love her.
Her smile, her laugh, her frown. His mind is suddenly flooding with funny and happy moments.
"DRACO FOCUS!" thunders Dumbledore's voice, the man stands in front of Draco's wand now, why isn't he moving, can't he see that Draco is not in control yet?
"AVADA…
"NOOO
"KED…
Grindelwald gets cut off and falls on his knees, coughing a little. Draco feels light. As if a huge pressure has just been lifted off his chest and shoulders. As if someone finally stopped trying to strangle him. His magic buzzes around him and explores his skin, checking that his boundaries are intact.
"Finally!" Dumbledore is by his side in a matter of seconds, the room around them is a mess, Draco's vision is fogged, he is shaking as his muscles release tension. He barely notices that his teeth are rattling.
"Are you done?" snorts Dumbledore, ignoring Draco's puzzled expression and staring at the older wizard, standing like a scarecrow on the other side of the room.
"Mediocre." Snorts Grindelwald, "She taught him something at least.".
"What… just happened?"
"He was testing you, boy…" Dumbledore is handing him a piece of chocolate appeared out of nowhere, Draco stares at it with a frown for a long minute before turning to Gellert.
"Testing… me? WHICH PART OF 'MAYA IS OUT THERE FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE' YOU DON'T GET?" He roars, his wand points at Grindelwald so fast that not even Dumbledore manages to do something about it, Grindelwald crashes against the wall behind him and falls back on the ground. Draco lets go of his wand, surprised by his own speed.
He hasn't even said the spell out loud.
"Well, I can't say he didn't deserve that, but we shouldn't be too reckless in spilling his blood right now, Draco." The headmaster pats on his shoulder before walking to Gellert's side under Draco's shocked expression.
"So, I'm guessing he is strong enough… isn't he? I didn't do such an awful job... did I?" he mocks helping Grindelwald up, the man pulls his arm away from Dumbledore and glares at him.
"He's decent."
Draco stands there staring at them with a dull expression. Until a few seconds earlier those two were at each other's throats, playing the blaming game, and now there they were, talking to each other as if nothing had happened.
"You're such a hard headed fool, you know, and you never change!" Mutters Dumbledore, Gellert gives him an almost completely toothless smile, which still manages to come off quite smug.
"And you still love me, you miserable old man. What is wrong with you? And wat's with this ridiculously long beard?"
"He said without a tooth in his mouth... Let's get you out of here." Shrugs Dumbledore, but Gellert stops in the middle of the room and gives Draco an intense stare.
"Good. Now your head is properly shut, isn't it?" he smirks, Draco glares at him, still too angry to let it go, "By the way…" the old man coughs a little, "She… is here." His voice softens much and suddenly he looks years younger, the shadow of something similar to excitement and anticipation lingering on his ancient features.
Draco turns to stare at the heavy wooden door behind which the walking bodies, or watchmen, or whatever they're called, should be and he hears the voices.
"Laurent, what the hell are those? ARGH GET IT OFF ME. CONFRINGO!"
"G… Granger?" whispers Draco.
"Laisse-moi! Aidez-moi! S'il vous plaît, n'importe qui, aidez-moi!" [Let go of me! Help me! Please, anyone, help me!]
Draco feels like fainting. She made it. She is here.
"What are you waiting for, boy? That one of those things tears her head off? GO ALREADY! You love her so much... GO!"
