Draco considered carefully everything that had been taken care of over that last couple days. That fear that he could ultimately be wrong about everything, the one that preyed on his mind when things got too quiet, had never fully left him. It had become just about unbearable as his dead ends and failures continued to stack up. Delusions. You're wasting time. Those had been constant thoughts, but at the end of all that, there was a nagging feeling that he was on to something. The inability to ignore that was exactly how and why he was here now. It all went back to that one day and the revelation that had happened inside the room of hidden things. It had changed everything.

Now, there had been preparations for just about any eventuality that could happen, all done by him and Pansy. The things that were beyond his ability to get or make had been provided to him. A sort of insurance or investment from friends in black cloaks. Looking over this place, Draco had to admit, it was a far cry better than any kind of accommodations he could have managed to produce. Pansy had done her part there and so much more. Even if things were a little shaky with her right now, he couldn't deny her touch on things had made all the difference here.

He stood there, surveying the great rocky landscape before him. The smell of seawater in the air was so potent, he could taste it. Waves broke and crashed against the earth behind him. This was a bit of a no-man's land of the ocean. Just off the coast where the tide was far too vicious for any ship or boat to ever dare try sailing. Not that that was a real concern. There was nothing here, nothing to make the hazards of the sharp rocks jutting upwards from the seabed, reaching up to the sky as far as they could, even remotely worthwhile. After all, what good would it serve to try and make it through all that to get to an inactive volcano?

It was far more likely there would be something worthwhile at the bottom of all these rocks. Rotting corpses of past ships that had been caught in the tide's unforgiving grip, perhaps. Maybe nothing at all. Nothing Draco cared about, at least.

The dangers that existed for muggles weren't always the same for wizards. Even if he couldn't apparate just yet, there were more ways to get around. He held his wand in his right hand and his broomstick in his left. It was his Nimbus 2001 he'd received back in his second year when he'd become Seeker for the Slytherin quidditch team. Funny how much things change.

Apparating would have been so much more convenient, but this was the best he could manage while he was still at school. He walked over the rough and uneven rock, heading towards a seemingly flat wall. It had the same dark charcoal color to it as the rest of the stony land. The way liquid earth just oozes across before coming to rest and cooling down. The years of abuse from the unrelenting ocean tide had battered everything and eroded it down to what it was now.

As he approached, Draco held up his wand above his head. Without breaking his stride, he brought the wand down in a long slash motion. Immediately, two diagonal shaped slabs of stone split apart, fell to the ground, and shattered into rubble. Great jagged shaped pieces rolled and bounced away from the larger remains which hit the ground and did not move.

Stepping over all of this, Draco entered a long passage that channeled deep into the side of the volcano. He flicked his wand, "Lumos," and the tip of it illuminated at once. The shadows retreated away from light and danced just outside of its reach. He walked faster now that he was more sure-footed on the drastically more level ground. After twenty or so feet, the path curved to the left and another ten feet past that, it opened up into a wide cavern. Stepping into this was like stepping into another world.

Unlike the dark and bland color outside, the insides were much more colorful. Hues of brown, orange, and yellow surrounded him now. All of it glinted as his light cast over and filled the space, like it was wet. The air had a sort of wet mineral dank smell to it. Not unpleasant, not great either. That was fine though, he wasn't here for the sights or the smells. In fact, that smell was linked to a couple different recent memories. He shoved those to the side for now.

They were just a few in an ever-growing collection that had been very sweet, but had begun to sour lately. It only took him a couple paces to cross the cavern to the opposite side where there were several criss-crossing alcoves wide enough for him to step into. To anyone who wasn't familiar with this place, it would look chaotic and confusing the way the stone innards opened up into large or small spaces. Sometimes going in one direction until it abruptly ended or shifted directions for no apparent reason. It would be very easy to get lost in here.

The measures put into place to protect this place from outsiders were bordering on paranoia. Draco had insisted though, and considering the importance of what he was doing, no questions were asked. The protections here weren't on the same level as Hogwarts, but it was still equipped with it's own layers of security. Both by magic and by other means.

Inside this deep recess, Draco leaned his broom into it's corner next to the neatly folded pile of blue clothes and then reached into his pocket. His fingers fumbled for a bit, the sound of glass on glass clinked a few times, and when he pulled his hand out, he was holding three tiny tinctures of brightly colored liquid. He opened his fingers and they rolled slightly in his open palm. These were the kind of drafts he would have never had access too before. Each one had its own purpose, but for now he only needed one of them. That one went back into his pocket while the other two went into the rectangular shaped box at his feet.

There were several other liquids already safely stored there, each of them labeled, a wax film seal over each bottle's cork stopper. He paused when he looked down and saw it though. Something wasn't right.

He kneeled down and inspected the box's contents. It was the kind with a lid and, once closed, it was enchanted to blend seamlessly with the reddish stone behind it. Again, the paranoid level of precautions here.

The first thing that was wrong here, was the lid hadn't been shut. It was left wide open even though Draco knew fully well he had shut it himself last time. Also, the content's looked like they had been roughly sifted through. It took him a moment to take stock of what was supposed to be here and determine if anything was missing.

Of course, however, something was missing. He grunted, added the two tinctures in his hand to the box, and then shut the lid. Immediately the wood color and texture of it darkened and changed. Draco didn't stay to watch, he turned and stepped back out into the cavern, his wand still held high above his head, and looked around. Like he expected whoever had stolen from him would be standing there, waiting for him to find them. Maybe even holding up some rude hand gesture and laughing.

There was no one. Annoyed and angry, Draco turned and moved to the far end of the cavern. It twisted and turned just like the previous one he'd entered by. It was here that the heat of this place began to make its appearance. He removed his cloak as he walked and, in his haste, he nearly forgot the way this particular channel sharply turned before it's end. Stopping just short of walking into a wall and eating a helping of rock and dirt, Draco pivoted on his foot.

On the other end of this tunnel was where he, Pansy, and a few other Death Eaters had spent most of their time here. Not many Death Eaters cared to come this deep, the chance of getting lost was too great for them to bother, Draco supposed. Even the ones that did, didn't stay long. They were just checking in, mostly. Sometimes other things too.

Here is where the touches of magic really became obvious. Aside from various modifications, there was furniture. It wasn't decorated, but there were chairs and a table. They were the fold-out kind of seats, the ones that were easily put away when not needed. Two of them were currently at the table, three more were leaning against the far wall. That was essentially how they had stayed since they'd been magically produced here.

The table was completely bare except for pieces of parchment, quills, and ink bottles. Draco had had little use for these here, they had almost exclusively been used by the Death Eaters that checked up on things. They'd scribble something down, fold it up, and then tap it with their wands. Just like the old magician's trick muggles liked to imitate, poorly, the paper would disappear at once and they would get up and leave. Usually.

Other than these few sparse additions, there was a cot. Something that had received far more use from Pansy than himself, admittedly, but his time here was rarely spent resting. There was something far more appealing here than staring at the back of his eyelids. He dropped his cloak on to the cot as he walked past it, and looked up. The most unique part of this space was the way it had been fitted for its purpose. Which was specifically to be a room to observe and listen to anything going on in the one next to it; the one where Katara was being kept.

The center of this room was by far it's most unique feature. Streaming down from far above, an enchanted flow of water ran down the wall. It looked and moved like real water, but it was just the outpouring of magic in the spell that created it. It allowed him to look straight through the wall into the next room. Quite a useful piece of spellwork. All Pansy's doing too. Another spell had been added to allow sound to be heard as well. Even subtle sounds, like breathing, came through clearly. Upon entering this makeshift base, he heard nothing out of the ordinary. Not at first, but he was aware something was off here too. He heard the soft plunk plunk sound of something wet dripping onto the ground, and someone's shaky breathing.

She's crying again, was Draco's first thought, but one look around told him something different. She was crying, but her tears weren't what he was hearing dripping on the floor. It was her blood, and she wasn't alone.

\ \ \ \ \

"Draco, how on earth do you expect this to ever work?"

A corner of Draco's lip twitched at the slightest twinge of annoyance. He didn't like being questioned. Especially about this. "I've told you before already, Pansy. I don't want her hurt." He had been leaning against the table behind him, his hands casually in his pants pockets, watching over the waterbender in the next room. Though his body language and his expression was one of someone calm and collected, he was far from it. In fact, he was enormously dissatisfied. His hands were balled up in frustration inside his pockets, his jaw muscles flexed as he gritted his teeth. At Pansy's words, he looked over his shoulder at her. "What part of that wasn't clear to everyone?" He pressed, a sharp edge in his words.

Pansy sat in the chair behind him, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She was at odds with the way Draco had been behaving toward her, not at all liking the way she felt him beginning to pull away from her. It vexed her that, after everything, this was what things were coming too. Undaunted by the way he steadfastly ignored her, she stood her ground. He might not like her now, questioning and criticizing him, but his success was her goal too and she cared about him too much to let him spoil his chances at that. She could be the one who could do the things he could not. That's what she was trying to do, afterall, she only wanted to be useful, really.

"Oh, there's been plenty of parts of this whole thing that haven't been clear to anyone." Pansy said defiantly, not at all liking that scolding tone of his creeping in, "Not even to yourself."

"Is that really what you think?" Draco asked her, looking away and sounding almost amused now. "You think I don't know what i'm doing?"

"Mhmm," Pansy said simply, nodding her head, "I think you're lost. You've got no idea where to go from here." If her words had any effect on him, he didn't show them. He just stood there, still as a statue. But, having been so intimately close with him, she knew better than anyone that often his lack of reactions were more than the indifference he wanted them to be. His brain was ticking alright, so she continued. "You found her. I was there to see the look of surprise on your face that day, so I know you never expected to get this far. How long has it been now, Draco?" Even she had to admit, she'd lost track of the time this had been going on, "What have we even learned from her?"

"We've learned loads, and you know that." Draco said stiffly.

"Don't do that, you know what I mean. What have we learned that's important?" Pansy asked more stiffly than him.

Silence.

"Exactly!"

"Well then, tell me something, Pansy. If you doubt me, why are you here?" Draco finally turned to face her, and he saw the determination in her expression, but he didn't falter, "What are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying," Pansy said, emphasizing every word, "to help!"

"Is that what you call it?" Draco continued. His face still the same calm expression, but his body was tense like he was clenching several more muscles now. He saw her flinch, something anyone else would have missed, but he knew her like no one else did and he saw the sting in his words reach her and sink in. He didn't feel good about it, he hated it, but he couldn't hold back now. "Undermining me and brazenly ignoring what I told you and everyone else not to do is not what I'd call 'trying to help'. What the hell were you even trying to do?"

Unbalanced by the blow, Pansy looked away from him. She turned her head away and looked blankly at the wall, "I was trying to do exactly what i've always done. Something useful. Something you're too weak to do."

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that," Draco spat, his frustration with her mounting to an all time high, "Instead, i'm just going to ask you again, and this time, Pansy, I want an answer. What the hell were you trying to do?"

"You know what I was trying to do." Pansy shot back, but her voice wavered.

Draco's hand shot up, and for an instant, Pansy thought he was actually about to hit her. But he didn't, instead he held up his forefinger and thumb which weren't quite touching, but only just. "This close, Pansy. This close."

She sighed. "Fine." What's the point anymore? She looked over his shoulder at the wall behind him and could see the girl that was the cause of all this. Still laying exactly where she had left her. Seeing her like that, weak and broken, Pansy felt almost sorry for her. But that empathy was entirely overwhelmed by something else. I wish we had never found her.

She swallowed, "I was only asking her some questions," she tried to shrug it off, but was unable to meet Draco's eyes.

"I'm asking you questions, Pansy. That's not what I saw you doing."

"Yeah, well, there's asking questions and then there's asking questions." She sounded so matter-of-fact about it that Draco raised his eyebrows at her.

"If I were to check," He started, producing his wand and holding it up in front of her, "What would be the last spell I'd see that this cast?" He held up a second wand; her wand.

Pansy reflexively started to reach for it, but stopped herself. Instead, she stared at it in his hand, thinking of just what it would reveal to him if he did check and she decided that she did not want him to know that. She closed her eyes and hung her head.

Her silence was all the answer Draco needed. He dropped her wand onto the table like it was something foul and shook his head. "Trying to help," He muttered under his breath. He was past being angry at her, well past it. Even his frustration had gone away. Now it was just disbelief.

Not so long ago, he had believed there was no one he could possibly feel closer to. Today, she just might have changed that and whether or not this was beyond fixing was something he couldn't even think about. Not right now. All the curves and contours of her elegant features, the ones that had enthralled him so, now held no such effect on him. Looking at her now, he only felt disgust.

"I want you to leave. Now."

He didn't wait for her to do so, in the same way he knew so many other things about her, he knew she would go. He had nothing left to say to her, so he walked away. Pointing his wand at the wall as he did. The water parted just wide enough for him to step through, and then closed behind him.

In the days that followed that, Draco had barely spoken a word to her. He'd only seen her once, and that had been to tell her to not come back until he asked her too. She had looked cross, but nodded her head anyway. "When?" She had asked him.

"When I feel like I can trust you again."

\ \ \ \ \

"Pansy," Draco moaned, looking at the scene before him. He ran then, not thinking, just acting. As he lifted his arm in front of him, his wand dropped automatically into his hand and it's magic parted the wall just in time for him to run through without a collision.

All at once, the scene before him became all too real. He stopped, unbelieving what he was seeing.

"Draco!" Pansy called out to him, "I was wondering when you were ever going to join us!" She giggled and, at the same time, he heard an agonized shriek from Katara.